A letter to my future self: Please remember that someone needs you

Dear Future Self,

I know you’ve been experiencing days that feel like years. Living with a body that feels out of control and a mind that must react isn’t easy. The combination of depression, anxiety, and physical pain is exhausting.

I know that right now, you may be questioning how much more you can endure. Procedures, surgeries, testing, and countless appointments leave you feeling broken. Your life has been consumed by thoughts of healing and doing what you can to survive. It’s frustrating to feel that life’s purpose is slipping from your grasp.

This letter is to remind you that it’s OK to have days when you can’t make sense of things. It’s all right to let the tears fall and to feel the fear and sadness. The painful part of life is that there will be suffering. Living this way is not easy, and it’s perfectly acceptable to acknowledge that.

There will be days when you struggle to find hope, and maybe this is one of them. When your mind is clouded with “what ifs” and self-doubt sinks in, when you feel as if you no longer want to do the next best thing, remember that someone needs you.

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Someone needs your encouragement and wisdom. Someone is grateful for the words you’ve shared with them. Maybe those words helped them through a difficult part of their own life. Perhaps you helped someone through a moment they thought they’d never get through.

Someone needs your laughter. Your smile and sense of humor could help pull someone out of their own storm.

Someone needs your supportive presence. Someone needs you cheering on the sidelines for them. They need to see you capturing their greatest moments with a face full of pride. You have a gift for making others feel less alone.

Someone needs the education you continue to provide. There’s a medical professional who needs to better understand life with rare disease. There’s a patient out there who’s feeling misunderstood. Reading your story has made someone feel seen, validated, and encouraged to find their own answers and solutions. This could save their life.

Someone needs your love. There are people in your life who can’t imagine a day without you. You’re a part of more hearts and minds than you realize. The love that crosses all dimensions is the one that someone needs to feel from you today.

So to my future self, read this on the days when you don’t see the point. Read this when you find yourself questioning your strength. Someone needs the parts of you that make you exactly as you are — the parts of you that illness will never be able to take away. Keep going.

Note: Pulmonary Hypertension News is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Pulmonary Hypertension News or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to pulmonary hypertension.