If you’ve been wondering how to keep living when you’d rather not, or what to do when life feels pointless, this video is for you. We talk about feeling hopeless, depression and hopelessness, and why life feels exhausting sometimes in a gentle, honest, and psychology-based way that may help you feel a little more understood. Below, we’ve also added playlists for those struggling with hopelessness, including a guided meditation playlist, along with free worldwide mental health resources like https://findahelpline.com and https://www.7cups.com for anyone who may need extra support right now.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Sometimes people are fighting battles you can’t see at all, so what’s something you wish more people understood about mental health, loneliness, burnout, or simply trying to keep going? We’d love for this comment section to become a place where people feel heard, understood, and maybe even a little less alone today.
If you're watching this, you might be in a place where the thought of going through the next hour,
let alone the next day, feels like climbing a mountain. You're not necessarily actively
planning to leave, but the idea of just stopping feels like a relief. It's a quiet exhaustion,
a heavy silence where hope used to be. And if this is you, I want you to know one thing before
we go any further. It's okay that you feel this way. Your pain is real, and you're not wrong for
feeling it. This video is not here to tell you to just be positive. It's here to be a hand on your
shoulder, to sit with you in the dark, and to offer a few gentle steps for when you can't see the path
forward. The first thing to unlearn is that you're broken and need to be fixed. You're not broken,
you are in pain, and there's a difference. The Japanese art of Kintsugi repairs broken
pottery with gold, embracing the cracks as part of its history, not something to hide.
Your pain, your exhaustion, your desire for it all to stop. These are the cracks. They are not a sign
of failure, they're a sign of what you've endured. The goal isn't to erase them, it's to learn how to
live with them, and maybe one day, to see the beauty in the gold that fills them.
When the future feels like an impossible weight, don't try to carry it. You don't have to figure
out tomorrow, or next week, or next year. Just focus on the next five minutes. Can you survive
the next five minutes? That's it. In those five minutes, could you do one small thing?
Like, could you get a glass of water? Or step outside and feel the air on your face for a few
seconds? Or can you put on a song? You're not committing to a whole day, you're just committing
to the next five minutes. And sometimes that's all you can do, and that's more than enough.
When you're in this state, you feel disconnected from everything, including your own body. This
is called dissociation, and it's a common response to overwhelming pain. The antidote is to find one
small thing that feels undeniably real. Hold an ice cube in your hand, feel the cold, sharp
intensity of it. Or pet your dog or cat and focus on the warmth of their fur and the texture of
their hair. Make a cup of tea and just hold the warm mug. These are grounding techniques,
they're not distractions, they're anchors. They pull you out from the storm in your head
and back into the physical world, even if only for a moment. This is the most important step.
If the urge to stop is overwhelming, make a deal with yourself. Tell yourself, okay,
I can make this decision, but I'm not going to make it right now. I'm going to postpone it until
tomorrow. You're not lying to yourself, you're just creating a little bit of space, and in that
space, something can change. A friend might call, the sun might come out, you might hear a song that
makes you feel a tiny flicker of something else. Postponing the decision isn't giving up, it's
giving yourself another chance. It's just, it's choosing not today. And finally, the hardest step.
You have to let someone know you're struggling. I know it feels impossible, you don't want to be a
burden, you don't have the energy to explain, but you don't have to explain everything. You can just
send one text, it can be as simple as, I'm not okay, and that's it. Send it to a friend, a family
member, or a therapist, or if you feel like you have no one else, reach out to a crisis line.
The people on the other end are trained for this, and they won't judge you, and they will just
listen. Their entire job is to just sit with you in the dark, so that you don't have to be alone.
We'll put some numbers in the description. Reaching out is not a sign of weakness, it's literally the
single bravest thing you can do. Keeping living when you'd rather not is not about finding something
grand, or sudden joy, it's about finding the strength to take one more breath. It's about
choosing not today. It's about feeling the sun on your face for one second. It's about remembering
that even in the darkest night, there are people holding a light for you, waiting for you to just
reach out. You are so much more than your pain, and your story is still being written. Please let
someone help you write your next chapter. If you or someone watching this video is trying to help
someone else in crisis, can you share the resources that you've used in your region that can be
helpful for someone who might need it? As anyone watching this could be anywhere in the world, it's
important that we can share resources we've known about in our local regions, in case anyone needs
them. And of course, for those needing help, please also do your due diligence as well, to ensure you
seek the help that's appropriate for you.
