People get low. Sometimes in the Lil’ Jon sense, but also in the crippling funk of depression sense. It can be difficult to get out of that and reclaim your razzmatazz, so here’s some reasons why you should definitely keep on doing your thing.
1 You haven’t finished reading all of the books that you said you were going to read yet or fully explored 90s American hip-hop
2 The bees need you
#savethebees
3 Remember that year when everything just felt like it synthesised into something incredible? Maybe you were 8 or 21 or 54. There will be other years that were just like that, only in the future. And better. You will be smarter and more wise and you won’t do that thing you did at that house party when you were dressed as Pikachu
4 Dancing is fun. It’s hard to do that when you’re immobile and covered in dirt (Glastonbury ’09 notwithstanding). Bare in mind that ‘Funnybones’ is / was not a documentary series
5 I think that you could have a future in ping-pong if you really put some concerted effort into it
6 I think that you will have a future, full stop. And some of it will be beautiful, and some of it will be ugly, but that’s the most that anyone can possibly ask. It’s sort of like having children; you’ve got to love it anyway
7 Think of all the people that you love, and the love that you feel for them.
Imagine their faces, like a movie reel.
Pick one person, and conjure an image of them in an environment where you are comfortable and relaxed with them.
Think of how they make you feel. Focus on where in your body that feeling is. Do they make you feel safe? Warm? Happy?
Feel gratitude for them. Send love to them.
Send that same love to yourself, and remember that you give other people feel those feelings of safety and happiness.
8 You are not done yet. You haven’t reached your full potential. There’s something thrilling about that. Imagine if a caterpillar gave up on all hope because it found itself in the darkness of the chrysalis? I just don’t feel as if it would have the same grand legacy as ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, or all of the other famous caterpillars.
- gestatin’, no hatin’
9 You look really great when you stand up tall and also whenever you eat strawberries. Everyone does. You should do both more often. Pretend that you have wings floating behind you when you walk, because it forces you to puff your chest out and grow all big. Do not tell any one about this
10 You’re kind, even if you don’t feel like you are sometimes. That kindness could really help somebody, or a multitude of somebodies. Remember to be kind to you, too.
11 You still haven’t written a book, or visited that country you always wanted to visit, or fully explored so many of all the things that intrigue you about the world. Like all the different varieties of nut butters
- Is that a glass of peanut butter next to the toast?
12 Dying is the least interesting thing that you could possibly do. The vast majority of anyone or anything that ever existed, is currently dead. If we were to imagine the earth on the timescale of a 24-hour clock, humans were born at a minute to midnight. You’ve got this tiny fragment of space in the now, which is pretty cool. You don’t have to remake the Bayeux tapestry or anything, but you have a sea of endless creative possibilities and choices laid out in front of you.
13 You’re probably really good at critiquing films/juggling/singing/basket weaving/tiddlywinks/understanding. Some things that you’re good at don’t necessarily hold the potential to make money from, but that doesn’t make them any less worthy. And it certainly doesn’t mean that they’re any less appreciated.
14 You have never seen a baby pigeon and you need to investigate for yourself to see if they are actually real
15 You are even more than your education or what you enjoy doing or how you look or who you know or where you work or where you live. You are a great whoosh of millions of atoms that came together and whizzed and fired and shot neurons and made magic. Your existence alone is magical. The probability of it all, the possibilities it presents, the events that had to coalesce and the generations that were before you, all whooshing and chancing and living and making.
- I’m pretty sure these guys didn’t have it that worked out either. I mean seriously, what the hell are they doing
16 Just think — if your great great great great grandmother had had a headache that Saturday evening, you wouldn’t be here now. Life is so silly, and so frivolous. Don’t take it too seriously. Don’t get your feet stuck in the mud. Where possible, boogie your way through life to make sure that you’re frequently lifting up your shins
17 You could and can and will contribute to something, and make it really wonderful. Be it big or small or teeny tiny, like a fleet of origami chameleons
18 There is likely chocolate/pizza/pancakes/your delicious food of choice in the future before you, and those things are never to be passed up. Think of seven year old you, and how outraged you would be at your future self squandering all these culinary opportunities
- breakfast
19 There is the potential for a Spice Girls reunion as the 8th of July marks their twenty-year anniversary. I’m just sayin’
20 This is all just temporary. This feeling, this hour, these changes, these anxieties. Nothing stays the same and everything is impermanent. You know, the creases won’t fall out of the pavement on their own if you don’t step on the cracks from time to time.
21 You know better than I do that you’re capable of much, much more. Even more than you could ever imagine.
There’s so much hope out there, in the shape of days.
The attic 