When you can't sleep at night.

It's late at night, you want to sleep but you can't. No matter what you do to try to sleep, it seems impossible. Don't freak out, here you are some things you can do so the night doesn't feel like it's eternal. 

- Read. Reading a book, a magazine, or anything you enjoy reading, might not only make you disconnect, but also it can help you feel sleepy - so you can sleep later. 

- Listen to some music. Well, not any kind of music. Metal, hardcore and rock music aren't the best kind of music to listen to if you can't sleep since you won't feel sleepy at all probably. Some ballads, classical or acoustic music can help you though. These genres are relaxing and the best thing to listen to when you can't sleep at night. 

- Write something. If you enjoy writing, you can write a story, continue something you'd written before, write a poem... anything. It can avoid the over-thinking that usually follows insomnia, and it can be quite calming. 

- Draw. Some drawing can also help, since it's relaxing and you'll get to distract yourself. Sometimes night is a time of the day when there's a lot of inspiration! 

Whenever you can't sleep at night, don't worry, there are plenty of things you can do to distract yourself and feel sleepy. Who knows? Maybe you end up doing something creative and amazing that turns your life upside down in a positive way!

Regrets.

Sometimes, we do things without thinking about the possible consequences first, we do things without asking ourselves whether we're going to regret them later, we do things thinking they'll be the best thing to do...

After that, we regret them.

We feel lost, we lose our path, we start to blame ourselves for the mistakes we've made. We freak out, we might even hate ourselves for what we've done, we wonder why we can't do things the right way instead of screwing it all up.

Regretting all that all the time won't help you. We all have done things we regret, things we wish we could go back and make differently - we can't do that though.

So, why worry? Why over-think it? Wouldn't it better to go on with no regrets? Wouldn't it be better to just take your life back?

We'll learn from those mistakes, but we'll learn, only that. You can't let yourself spend all your time regretting what you've done.

The mirror, it lies.

Have you ever looked into the mirror and hated the reflection it showed? Have you ever looked into the mirror and wanted to cry? Have you every looked into the mirror and felt the urge to punch it?

If so, stay with me a little longer.

Let me tell you that the mirror, it lies. The mirror doesn't tell the truth. Do you want to know why?

It shows you every little imperfection in your skin, in your body, making you think that it's what you're made of... and that isn't true. However, that's not the only mistake that can be found in a mirror - it also hides some important things.

The mirror doesn't show all the things you're good at, all your habilities. The mirror doesn't show all your achievements, all your goals.

The mirror doesn't show how much you've fought so far, it doesn't show how much you're loved, it doesn't show the strength that there's inside of you. The mirror won't show that, despite all you've been through, you're here.

For this reason, if you're going to look at yourself into the mirror, I hope that this time you remind yourself the good things you've done, all your achievements, all that you can do... all you're worth. Don't forget to remind yourself that you're a warrior, you can get through anything that comes your way... and you're loved.

You're much more than what you see when you look into the mirror.

"At least, I tried"

It scares me, you know? It scares me not to try my best to get what I want to, it scares me not to give my best, it scares me not to fight with all my strength. 

Because I know I'd regret that, I know I would be disappointed at myself. 

I will push until my arms are failing. I will think until I feel my head can take no more. I will write until I can't feel my hands. I will scream until I can't say a word more. I will fight until there's nothing left of me to give. 

I don't want to wake up one day thinking: "I could've tried". I'd rather wake up one day saying: "At least, I tried".

I hope you do the same. 

Taking back control.

There comes a time in your life in which you lose all control, in everything. You can't control what's happening, you can't control your feelings, you can't control your reactions to the current situation, you can't control anything. 

You freak out, you desperate. "What the hell can I do? How did I let it get so back?", you ask yourself. 

Calm down, sit down for a moment and breathe slowly. Sometimes things seem worse than they actually are, let's see them with perspective.

Think in depth about the situation: 

- What is the situation? 

- What happened so I got into this situation? 

- What has been my reaction to it so far?

- Has my reaction to the situation make thing better or worse?

- What can I change so the situation changes as well? 

It's natural to you freak out when you feel like you've lost control. However, the same way that you've lost it, you can get it back. 

It's your time to realize that you can take control of the situation, you might not be able to control what happens in your life - but you can control how you react to that.

Once you've taken back control, never let it go because it will be the best weapon you could have - control.

Mistakes.

We're human, we make mistakes. We do things we regret later. We say things that hurt other people, even though that wasn't out intention. We try to do things a certain way, but they turn upside down and everything gets fucked up. 

Whether we want it or not, no matter how hard we try, we'll end up making mistakes.

Mistakes are something to learn from. Of course they make you feel bad, but the fear of making mistakes can't stop you from moving forward. Only if you make mistakes you'll know best in the future, you'll know what to do and what not to do.

If we didn't make mistakes, we would never learn.

In addition, it's something that happens to all of us. There's no person in the world who hasn't made mistakes.

We can do two things:

We can regret them all our life and spend it feeling bad with ourselves because we made mistakes, or we can learn from them and become a better person. What do you prefer?

"Promise me you won't do it"

If there's someone in your life who you care about having a rough time for whatever reason and you want to help them, this post is for you. 

If this person we're talking about is having issues related to self harm, eating disorders, susbtance abuse, I'm going to give you some advice. 

First of all, you need to understand that these are very serious issues, and you cannot and shouldn't just look the other way. Even though those aren't suicidal acts themselves, they can be really dangerous to the person, and also the risk of suicide becomes higher. 

Secondly, there's something you need to know - this is not a choice. The person who's suffering from any of theses issues (or any other issue) didn't choose that, so don't blame them, don't shout them or reprimand them because it's not only useless but also potentially harming. 

Thirdly, do not tell them to promise you they won't do it. I know it's the first thing that you do when you realize someone you care about is doing something which is hurting them, but you need to think about that with perspective. Asking them to promise you they won't do it might probably cause a stressful situation and could cause them feelings of guilt if they can't keep the promise. As I said before, it's not a choice, therefore sometimes they just can't help it. However, you can ask them to promise you to try or to call you or something if they're having urges of doing that.

Fourthly, show them support. This is a hard situation and your loved one is probably going through a rough time, for this reason, showing them you care, that you're there if they needed, just reaching your hand, is something they'll be grateful for. 

Fifthly, do not blame yourself. This is something really important as well. You're trying your best, you're doing it great but if they relapse or can't stop doing that it's not your fault. It's not easy to help someone who's going through any of the issues I mentioned, you will probably feel frustrated. Keep this in mind - none of this is your fault.

Sixthly, suggest them asking for help. We all need help sometimes and it's not weak to ask for help. Encourage them to ask for help from an adult, or even professional help. Show them it's not something bad and that it will help them - it's actually the best for them. Nevertheless, don't pressure them.

Seventhly, if it goes far, if you think their life might be in danger, tell someone. It doesn't matter if you promised not to tell anyone or if they will hate you for that, if they're in danger you need to tell someone what's going on. If you need to call an ambulance, do it. If you need to call their family, do it. If you need to call the police, do it. They'll be mad at you, they won't like it - but it's for their sake. 

Well, I'm not going to write more advice or the post will become too long. This advice is just personal and talking from experience, keep that in mind. I hope that it helps you in anyway, if you need any other advice or help you know where to find me.