To the bullied and the beautiful:

You’re not alone.

It’s something we often say, but do we ever stop to consider what we really mean by these words? It means you’re not alone in your suffering. It means that someone else feels your pain. It means that, despite what the people around you say or do, someone out there actually does understand what you’re going through.

So we struggle together, in a beautiful, tragic sort of way. Knowing that you are not alone in the struggle somehow makes the pain feel a little less heavy. Crying seems more bearable when the tears fall on someone else’s t-shirt.

Without these struggles in your life, you never would be able to truly understand the people gazing up from the bottom of a trench whose pain you have suffered too, and crawled your way to the top. If you’re here reading this, it means you’ve won your own battles in some way because you’re still alive and you’re still fighting for the life you want.

Inspire others.

Do something meaningful with your life.

Forget what society tells you about success and money and keeping up with the Joneses and all the comparative, soul-sucking nonsense. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” You don’t need to be the leader of a country or have money or power or fame to change the world. You just have to care about people.

You have the power to show your care and concern for anyone. You can make a difference, whether you’re depressed yourself or perfectly happy with life.

This is for each and every person who has fought the battle against depression, self-hatred, bullying, and the feeling that you’re worthless, unwanted, and unlovable. I feel for you, I really do. I’ve been where you are. But it got better. Way better.

This is for the weak and the trampled on, the silenced blurs of color fading into the background and the worn-out weary soldiers who can’t march on another step.

There is no brighter and more beautifully broken beacon of hope than the person who has fought against themselves and made it through to the other side, and continues to fight the good fight each day.

You are not weak. You are brave and loving, and strong.

And you will make it through this.

Katie Harp is a blogger, writer, entrepreneur, and the founder of the personal development blog and app Resilient. You can read the blog online to get tips about how to live a happier life or download our free inspirational app from either of the app stores. 

Image courtesy of Yoann Boyer.