Editorials

Light at the end of the tunnel is real

29 April 2019

By Lauren E. White

Chances are, you’ve stared sadness in the face for longer than a few hours during the course of your life. Be it grief, a break-up, family problems, bullying or a huge disruption in your life – you’ve been there.

There being a dark place where it’s cold and the sun doesn’t shine. It’s quite a lonely place and there are heavy, thick black clouds hanging over you. And, in this place, this sadness, it seems like that’s your life stuck. Forever.

If you’re going through a bit of a tricky patch right now, and you feel like you’re in that place, know that it will end soon and that light at the end of the tunnel is real. That glimmer of hope you see shining bright in the distance is real – and it is something you absolutely must hold on. Believe in it with all your heart and trust it, despite the negative committee meeting in your head to tell you you don’t deserve to be on the other side, and that you never will.

Tell that negative committee to sit down and shut up. Because light at the end of the tunnel is real.

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This year has been an interesting one for many of us – myself included. And there was a bit of a tricky patch that lasted for a number of months, where I certainly wasn’t feeling like myself. I began to wonder if I ever would be myself again. I was stuck in that place too.

Now, the sun shines again and I fully enjoy the company of my truest, purest friendships. I can once again enjoy walking down the road, and I can listen to sad songs not to be sad, but just to appreciate them again. I can read what I want without having a breakdown about how terribly it relates to my life, and I have gotten my mind back.

Most importantly, I have gotten my mind back. It no longer wanders to people I don’t want to think of, and it no longer taunts me with memories and overthoughts about scenarios I don’t need to torture myself over. My mind is mine again, and I’m glad to have it back.

So, like I said earlier, if you’re stuck in a horrible place and think it’s not going to end: keep going. It will end and the sun will shine. And, one day, just like me, you’ll be taking a shower in your friend’s house with Mr Blue Sky playing and you’ll think to yourself, ‘wow, I’m finally happy again’.

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If you’re struggling and need some help to get out of that place we were talking about, please don’t hesitate to reach out to friends, a family member or a teacher. Alternatively, you can always talk to someone on the lines below:

— ChildLine: 0800 1111 (under 18s only)

— Samaritans: 116 123

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