Reasons to Stay Alive

by Matt Haig

Don’t feel guilty about being idle. More harm is probably done to the world through work than idleness. But perfect your idleness. Make it mindful.

Understand that thoughts are thoughts. If they are unreasonable, reason with them, even if you have no reason left. You are the observer of your mind, not its victim.

Sit down. Lie down. Be still. Do nothing. Observe. Listen to your mind. Let it do what it does without judging it. Let it go, like the Snow Queen in Frozen.

‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’

If someone loves you, let them. Believe in that love. Live for them, even when you feel there is no point.

This is the world of love and emotion that is like a ‘sea’. If we can submerge ourselves in it, we find infinity in ourselves, and the space we need to survive.

Remember that there is nothing weird about you. You are just a human, and everything you do and feel is a natural thing, because we are natural animals. You are nature. You are a hominid ape. You are in the world and the world is in you. Everything connects.

At your lowest and at your highest, whether you are happy or despairing or calm or angry, there is a kernel of you that stays the same. That is the you that matters.

Books are possibilities. They are escape routes. They give you options when you have none. Each one can be a home for an uprooted mind.

If the sun is shining, and you can be outside, be outside.

Remember that the key thing about life on earth is change. Cars rust. Paper yellows. Technology dates. Caterpillars become butterflies. Ni...

Be brave. Be strong. Breathe, and keep going. You will thank yourself later.

Peanut butter sandwiches.