make a list of the hard times you survived
Sometimes, I think of the countless days I was certain I wouldn't survive. Someone once shared, from their notes app, a method for the unsurvivable periods: write them down. The idea is that, when the next hard period arrives (and it does arrive) you'll have evidence, a list of things you were sure were going to kill you but didn't. Mine looks something like this:
A forced gap year from attending university due to financial struggles
A fallout with a dear friend
Second year of engineering school
That one severe depressive episode from early 2024
Living in a foreign country with an expired visa
I'm currently tackling unemployment as a recent graduate, and it's been feeling like the end of the world. Everyday, I panic I'm never surviving this! I've never experienced something so bad! - But I did. I have a list with proof that, every single time, I made it to the other side of something I was convinced was going to be the end of me. So, think of all the times you thought you wouldn't survive, and think of all the times you will.