The next phase of human evolution is about collaboration not competition, but the belief that our survival still depends on being the fittest is fundamentally entrenched in our language and culture. Instead of being the fittest, we should think about how each of us fits into a complex and collective human endeavor to make the world more beautiful for more people.

100 Reasons Why You Should Stay Alive

1. Your friends, your family, and your pets would miss you.

2. It’s not worth the regret. Either by yourself if you failed or just simply left scars, or the regret everyone else feels by not doing enough to help you.

3. It does get better. Believe it or not it will eventually get better. Sometimes you have to go through the storm to get to the rainbow.

4. There’s so much you would miss out on doing.

5. There is always a reason to live. It might not be clear right now, but it is always there.

6. So many people care, and it would hurt them if you hurt yourself.

7. You ARE worth it. Don’t let anyone, especially yourself, tell you otherwise.

8. You are amazing.

9. A time will come, once you’ve battled the toughest times of your life and are in ease once again, where you will be so glad that you decided to keep on living. You will emerge stronger from this all, and won’t regret your choice to carry on with life. Because things always get better.

10. What about all the things you’ve always wanted to do? What about the things you’ve planned, but never got around to doing? You can’t do them when you’re dead.

11. I love you. Platonically. Even if only one person loves you, that’s still a reason to stay alive.

12. You won’t be able to listen to music if you die.

13. Killing yourself is never worth it. You’ll hurt both yourself and all the people you care about.

14. There are so many people that would miss you, including me.

15. You’re preventing a future generation, YOUR KIDS, from even being born.

16. How do you think your family would feel? Would it improve their lives if you died?

17. You’re gorgeous, amazing, handsome, and to someone you are perfect.

18. Think about your favourite music artist, you’ll never hear their voice again…

19. You’ll never have the feeling of walking into a warm building on a cold day.

20. Listening to incredibly loud music.

21. Being alive is just really good.

22. Not being alive is really bad. And boring.

23. Finding your soulmate.

24. Red pandas. Just… THEY ARE SO CUTE!!

25. Going to diners at three in the morning.

26. Really soft pillows. Or blankets.

27. Eating pizza in New York City.

28. Proving people wrong with your success. Take that!

29. Watching the jerks that doubted you fail at life. Take that!

30. Seeing someone trip over a garbage can.

31. Being able to help other people.

32. Bonfires.

33. Sitting on rooftops.

34. Seeing every single country in the world. And not being ignored. Because, y’know, if you were dead everyone would run into you… it would suck.

35. Going on road trips. Have fun doing that as a ghost, or whatever.

36. You might win the lottery someday, who knows! How would you enter while you’re dead?!

37. Listening to music in your own special place.

38. Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, staring down at everyone with the wind in your hair.

39. Taking really cool pictures.

40. Literally meeting thousands of new people.

41. Hearing crazy stories.

42. Telling crazy stories.

43. Eating ice cream on a hot day with your best friends.

44. More interesting books or episodes could come out, you never know. It’s gonna be hard to get books or watch Netflix/Hulu/Etc while you’re dead.

45. Travelling to another planet someday. It’s gonna happen.

46. Having an underwater house.

47. Randomly running into your hero on the street

48. Having your own room at a fancy hotel.

49. Trampolines.

50. Think about your favourite movie, you’ll never watch it again.

51. Think about the feeling of laughing out loud in a public place because your best friend has just sent you an inside joke.

52. Your survival will make the world better, even if it’s for just one person or 20 or 100 or more.

53. People do care.

54. Treehouses, you won’t really be able to have a treehouse while dead.

55. Hanging out with your soulmate in a treehouse

56. Snorting when you laugh and not caring who sees.

57. I love you. Platonically.

58. I care about you.

59. Because nobody is going to be like you ever, so embrace your uniqueness!

60. You won’t be here to experience the first cat world emperor. You won’t even be influenced by it.

61. WHAT ABOUT FOOD?! YOU’LL MISS CHOCOLATE AND ALL THE OTHER NOM THINGS!

62. Starbucks. Or caribou coffee.

63. Hugs. The kind that makes you squeal because of how tight they are, the kind that you really love.

64. Stargazing with your favourite person in this universe at 4am because you can’t sleep, the grass brushing against your toes as you snuggle together.

65. You have a purpose, and it’s up to you to find out what it is.

66. You’ve changed somebody’s life.

67. Now you could change the world.

68. You will meet the person that’s perfect for you. Maybe you already have.

69. No matter how much or how little, you have your life ahead of you.

70. You can’t look at any more memes if you’re dead.

71. If you end your life, you’re stopping yourself from achieving great things.

72. Making snow angels.

73. Making snowmen.

74. Snowball fights.

75. Life is what you make of it.

76. Everybody has a talent.

77. Laughing until you cry, with your stomach screaming and your lungs flaring in heat. Rolling on the floor, grinning ear to ear.

78. Having the ability to be sad means you have the ability to be happy.

79. The world would not be the same if you didn’t exist.

80. It’s possible to turn frowns upside down.

81. Be yourself, don’t take anyone’s crap, and never let them take you alive.

82. Heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary. Be your own hero.

83. Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.

84. One day your smile will be real. It will, I promise you.

85. Having a really hot, relaxing bath after a stressful day.

86. Lying on grass and laughing at the clouds.

87. Laughing insanely hard with your best friends.

88. Eating weird food.

89. Staying up all night watching your favourite films with a loved one.

90. Sleeping in all day.

91. Creating something you’re proud of.

92. You can look back on yourself 70 years later and being proud that you didn’t commit. And if you did, feeling regret that you did.

93. Being able to meet your Internet friends.

94. Coffee.

95. The new season of your favourite show.

96. Staying up late with your best friend.

97. Being stupid in public because you just can.

98. If you are reading this then you are alive! Is there any more reason to smile?

99. Being able to hug that one person you haven’t seen in years

100. People care enough about you and your future to come up with 100 reasons for you not to do this.

101. But, the final and most important one is just being able to experience life. Because even if your life doesn’t seem so great right now, literally anything could happen.

I didn’t come up with these, but that doesn’t make them any less important. this text touched me and I said to myself that it would be good if other people had the opportunity to read it. This is just for the sake of benevolence so please be kind :)

“I want everything quiet and simple. For me: walking barefoot, sitting still, reading, listening to stories and now and then telling some myself. Eating fruit, drinking milk, longing to create, but with patience and many insights.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke, from a letter to Lou Salomé witten c. March 1904

When we experience relational hurt we develop strategies to prevent future pain. For some, these are conscious decisions and for others they are much more complex unconscious ways of adapting through avoidance, distancing, and a lack of interest.

This is a process that begins when we are children. The love given and received throughout childhood and adolescence forms the basis of a blueprint for intimacy. Part of this blueprint informs our experience with everything from receiving love and pursuing closeness to having fun. At times, parents are unable to give love/attention or do so in such a limited way that in response children adapt and learn not to need or want more. We change and adapt to better suit our reality. This is basic survival.

This process doesn’t just stop when we move out of our childhood home. It continues throughout our lives. It’s unconscious, unyielding, and part of our internal psychological structure. The most powerful is our self-worth; wanting more is an expression of self-worth.
People form entire personalities around not wanting or needing - it’s the armor that ensures safety through auto-distancing. If you don’t let people in then you can’t get hurt. If you numb to the point of disinterest then explicit pain is less likely.

Understand that this isn’t bad. This is basic humanity and survival. We all do this. The biggest challenge is identifying what it is you really want. Most of us want love, connection, fun, and pleasure of all kinds. However, these unresolved wounds have a way of infiltrating all relational experiences and prevent us from getting what it is we truly seek.

To some extent - we all have some healing to do. We can’t get through childhood or any adult relational experience without getting hurt and experiencing pain. The more pain we experience the more we need to heal. This is a reparative process. Part of this process - is giving yourself what you didn’t get as a kid - the permission to want more - not only from others but for ourselves.

I’m single as fuck until an epic love comes along; not settling for anything less than paradigm-shifting, mind-blowing, soul nourishing love.