Courage does not always roar...

..sometimes it is simply the quiet voice at the end of the day that says 'I will try again tomorrow'.

I spotted this quote on the wall about 18months ago when I was having a massage at my local Natural Practices therapy room. Massages are one of the few things that really help me to relax and let go. Anyway, since reading this quote it has become a sort of mantra to me; small words providing big comfort on the days that don't go so well.

For anyone suffering from any mental illness or even emotional turmoil, you will know as well as I do that every day can be a battle, and we can be left feeling weak, helpless and hopeless, with no strength left to fight. This quote reminds me that we *are* incredibly strong. That we fall, we fail and we have bad times. But we pick ourselves up. We carry on. We fight. And that, my friends, is true courage. To wake up every day knowing that life is not as you hoped it would be, and just getting out of bed and cleaning your teeth, or just getting through a mealtime can take all the strength we can muster...yet still we carry on, we go to school, to university, to work and appear to an outsider as any normal person would do...but in reality it has taken 10 times as much energy and courage to get through that one single day as it would to any other person...yet still we do it. Don't you think that's kind of amazing? Don't you think the fact that no matter how many bad days we have, how long we have struggled, how tired we are of fighting, we still try again the next day is incredible?

I am currently in third year studying maths at university, and last term was a really tough one for me. I went to see my mental health advisor at the university, and told her how I was feeling: weak, pathetic, a failure...those were some of the words that came up. Her response was that how could I think myself weak when I was on track to get a first in my degree, despite ALL the problems I have had over the years...when I got a first in my second year despite an incredibly bad bout of depression at exam time which meant I did next to no revision. At the time it was small comfort, but in heinsight I see that she was absolutely right! So lets congratulate ourselves, and celebrate, on all we do achieve in spite of our obstacles.

Let's have courage, and say to ourselves, 'I will try again tomorrow'.

xxxx