Open letter to a survivor

Dear Survivor,

It’s funny how you can gain so much from hitting rock bottom.

In that moment when you’ve fallen down, you have a choice to make.

You can either stay down there or you can try to pull yourself back up.

It’s actually easier to stay down once you’ve fallen.

It was scary as you were falling – having to let go of everything you once held on to, everything you took for granted, everything you thought you’d always have.

But now that you’ve fallen it’s actually quite ok.

You start to get used to being down where you are, start to find ways to cope and even tell yourself that in some ways down here is better.

But when you do decide to try climbing up, it’s much harder than anything you’ve ever done in your life.

And along the way, there are times when you wish you never started trying to get up.

You lose your footing at times, fall a couple of steps back down.

You feel as though you’ll probably soon be back at the bottom where you started.

You start to lose faith. You become convinced reaching the top is impossible.

You start to consider your goal of reaching the top just a pointless dream and you consider yourself silly for having thought it possible.

But that’s all part of the journey.

The struggle and the doubts are part of what makes getting to the top so very special.

To know that you kept going when you wanted so badly to stop.

To know that you survived. You reached the top. You turned things around.

And now you can have it all.

You can appreciate the things you took for granted before you fell down.

You can smile at the little things which are so special now.

You can live your life fully again.

You are a S.U.R.V.I.V.O.R. 

And nothing and no one will ever take that away from you.

And if you’re facing something hard again, just think of yourself on your first climb.

And know that you can do this too.

For a survivor everything is possible.

You can and you will manage.

And this too shall pass.

Love always,
Jo x