Last summer, my family and I went camping. My kid hates hiking, but we pushed them to climb up the waterfalls with us. They were miserable. I remember telling them, “This is a steep climb. It’s not easy for Daddy or me either. We just have a lot more experience talking ourselves up the mountain.” ⁣ ⁣ And that really is a metaphor for life, isn’t it? Nothing gets easier. You just get better. There are days when my insecurities eat me alive. When I’m hiding in the bathroom on release day so my family doesn’t have to see how hard I’m taking some things. But I take a few minutes. Maybe an hour. 😉 And I talk myself to my feet again. ⁣ ⁣ This is my Fuji walking stick. You get them when you climb Mt. Fuji. ⁣ ⁣ I worked in Japan for a summer during college, and my friends and I decided to climb the volcano on our last weekend there. ⁣ ⁣ My husband asks why I keep it when it just lays around, not hanging up or displayed. ⁣ ⁣ I keep it as a reminder. I was the last one up the volcano that day, and I let myself get upset when someone I was close to made fun of me and left me behind. The walking stick is a reminder that I’m not licked yet. I might slow down. I might fall. I might not get up immediately, but I will eventually. Every f*cking time. ⁣ ⁣ Just one more step. Then another. Every one of them takes me closer, no matter how slowly and no matter how many people are making fun of me. One of the easiest things to know and one of the hardest to remember is that it’s not about “them.” It never was. YOU are the most important fight you will ever have in your life, and no one is harder on us than we are on ourselves. ⁣ ⁣ You can go slowly. You can be the last one to get there. Just keep walking. ⁣ And sometimes there will be those days when you’re tired of walking. When the black cloud following you around just won’t leave, and I hope you know we live in a world full of people who feel the same way. When that happens, you let someone carry you, and tomorrow, maybe, you can carry them. ⁣ ⁣ May is #mentalhealthawarenessmonth, so for anyone who needs to read this, you’re not weak or a failure. You’re a work in progress just like the rest of us. ❤️