Hello Tomodotchi,
If you’re reading this, you’re probably anxious, depressed, and or stressed. You may be broken, tired and overwhelmed. You may be going through a break up, overworked and or underappreciated. This open letter is for you, this letter is to remind you that you are strong, you are important and you are meaningful.
Insipiration
This open letter was inspired by Chester Bennington and Linkin Park’s song “One More Light”. If you want to listen while reading, below is their video. Ultimately, we care if one more light goes out and we don’t want to ignore the signs. Chester left this world too soon, but he will forever live on in our memories. RIP.
you are more than your anxiety and depression
When anxiety and depression are at their worst, the worries of the what ifs and the irrational thoughts all come pouring in. It causes sleepless nights, constant fear and isolation. Anxiety is like a party crasher who comes uninvited and doesn’t know when to leave. It floods our minds with worry and doubt. It makes us feel small, weak and alone. We begin to feel that all we are is our anxiety and depression.
We’re here to tell you that this couldn’t be further from the truth. We aren’t going to cheapen your feelings and say everyone has the same level of anxiety and depression or that we all know exactly what you are going through, because no one, but you, knows how you truly feel. Your experiences are unique to you and we are all equally valid in our feelings.
However, we can say, you are strong enough to beat your anxiety. There is no problem that is too great for you to solve. Afterall, there has been nothing in your life that you haven’t been able to solve thus far. Every problem has an answer and every tough experience makes you stronger for the future. Every experience, success or failure adds to your value and every day makes you more than you were the day before. If you experienced something new, inherently you leveled up. After all, today is the youngest you’ll ever be and the oldest you’ve ever been by default you are always moving and growing. Things may hurt in the moment, but you are strong and there has been nothing you have not been able to overcome in your life and so this too shall pass.
We can also say, you are not alone, no matter how isolated you feel. When the going gets tough, it’s ok to rely on others. Anxiety doesn’t work alone and uses everything it can against you, so why should you fight it alone? There are 6.5 billion people in the world, and yes, there is help and community. Use the power of allies to get through the tough times. There are so many communities, help groups, resources available online. Do not think that you have to go this alone at any point. It’s ok to be vulnerable, most people are more caring and understanding than we think.
You are enough
Anxiety and depression are isolating. They want you to feel alone and defeated. They want you to feel that you aren’t enough or that you aren’t worthy. They want you to believe the irrational, the untrue and the false realties that they create. They want you to think that every mistake is insurmountable and can’t be fixed. They exacerbate your memories and alter the truth. All of this leads to making you feel that you are not enough.
We’re here to say that this is irrevocably not true. Memories and anxiety are a fickle thing, they are so easily altered. For example, in a break up, we tend to only remember the good times and forget the bad. If we mess up at work, we focus only on the thing we got wrong and forget all the hundreds of other things we did right. When we worry about life, we only think of the worst-case scenario and we don’t allow ourselves to think of the best case or even the middle ground. We hope you recognize this and realize that you are worth so much more and that our memories and anxiety can so easily trick the best of us.
What we can also say without a doubt is that you inherently add value to the world just by existing. Even the smallest impact can have positive ripples that spread across the world. Afterall, it truly takes all of us to keep this world running. Could you imagine if we didn’t have garbage collectors, fast food workers, call center employees, and every other job out there? The world would be chaos, the streets would be full of trash, bellies would be hungry, everyday problems would never get solved. Regardless if you do your job today or tomorrow, you are helping us all in the now and there is no one else in this exact moment who can take your place.
We can say definitively that a stranger’s smile, a coworker’s warmth or a friend’s love has saved us countless times. When the anxiety and isolation come, any one of those things can bring us back. If you’ve ever smiled at someone, helped someone, or even walked past someone, we know that you made an impact on that person in that exact moment. Never forget, that no matter who you are you have an immediate impact in the here and now and you are needed and invaluable.
"Who cares if one more light goes out? In a sky of a million stars, Well I do"
In the words of the immortal Chester Bennington
“Who cares if one more light goes out? In a sky of a million stars, Well I do”.
We hope you realize that you are more than your anxiety and depression. That you are more than any mistake. We hope you realize that you are strong enough to get through any obstacle. There are always people around who can help you not hurt anymore. Don’t ignore the feelings or the signs, be kind to yourself and to one another. Live your life with meaning, intent and love and realize that you are always growing every day.
If you are in crisis and need a suicide lifeline and are in the United States, dial 988 immediately, you can visit their page here. It’s important to note that we aren’t medical professionals or therapists. We’re just normal people who struggle with anxiety and depression and want to share our experiences and thoughts. We aren’t here to tell you what to do or offer advice, but we hope our words foster growth, perspective and thoughts.
If you are looking for a community to grow and learn more about mental wellness and advocacy, consider joining our private facebook group. Our dream with this lifestyle brand is to create a tribe of mental wellness warriors who aren’t afraid to talk about their struggles and who help one another out through their own experiences.
If you want to see what we personally do to help manage our anxiety, check out this post. If you want to read a guest post from an ER doc where they share about their own anxiety through covid, then see this post. Finally, if you want to see our article on where we find self worth, please read this post.
Much Love,
Your Tomodotchi
TLDR;
Anxiety and depression can make us feel like less than we really are. It’s important to realize you are strong enough and you are not alone in the fight for your mental wellness. Everyday you get better than you were the day before and you will and can get through any hardship!
Extras
As an added bonus for our readers, we like to include a game of where are the Tomodotchi Pets. They’ve been hidden in 2 of the pictures within this post. Can you find them all? See below for what they look like!
