To you:

I know.

I mean, I don't fully know, but I know enough to know this:

There are parts of your story, things you’ve lived through, that sucked. There have been times you were drowning and thought there was no way out and you were surely done for.

But you’ve come out on the other side. Somehow.

And to that, I say congratulations. You’re alive and you’re breathing.

And I want to tell you to tell that story loudly and clearly, because there are those around you, silently walking through the parts of their story that suck, and they need to know they aren’t the only ones. They need to know there’s light on the other side. They need to know that you’re alive and you’re breathing.

And maybe that’s you. Maybe you’re still in the suck. Maybe you’re not convinced there’s a light on the other side and you’re pretty sure there’s no coming back from this one.

To you, I want to say there is. There is light. There is hope. There is life after suck.

I know, I know. I know there are days that feel too heavy to get out of bed. I know there are moments that feel as if your heart has been ripped from your chest itself and I know, I know, that it seems like it would be easier to give up.

And I want to tell you to find the people around you that you trust to love you well, and to tell your current pain loudly and clearly. Because there are people who want to help you carry it. There are people who want nothing more than to walk alongside you through the suck, to bear its weight with and for you, who want to hold you up when you collapse, to tell you to keep going.

So, to you:

Don’t give up.

Keep going.

Don’t give up.

There is light.

Don’t give up.

There is hope.

Jamie says we were made to win and lose together. Paul says to carry each others’ burdens.

Share your pain, listen to others’.

Give love, receive love.

Don’t give up.