Moments are born and moments die.

Elif Shafak, Forty Rules of Love

This is a letter to myself, a reminder of how to live now. If it helps anyone out there, I’d be happy.

The Letter

Dear You,

You’re going to fail. You’re going to need help.

I know you can hide your troubles. I know you can hide yourself well. But, like you, there are others who ‘look’ okay.

I’m fine, they say.

But they have troubles, and it could be about anything: depression, anxiety attacks, personal problems and others. Even worse, some cultures don’t encourage us to share our troubles as well: those who seek help could be seen as desperate, weak, and the like.

When nothing works, we need to take time to reset. This is where the power of Now comes in.

Now is the only time you can control. The past doesn’t matter because it already happened. The future doesn’t matter because it hasn’t happened yet.

What you do with Now, from now on, is what will make things go for the better. How would you remind yourself? How do you start?

First, check your immediate surroundings. If you can still see well, if you can hear music, if you can touch your skin, if you can eat and drink healthily: You’re alive. Good, that’s step one. Be grateful for that.

Before anything, gratitude for the smallest things gives us the strength to achieve small wins. With small wins come a bigger boost to confidence, and with a bigger confidence comes greater wins.

But everything comes one step at a time. Don’t rush, just take your time. All you have to do is start with now.

You’ll get there soon.