Matt Haig

Wherever you are, at any moment, try and find something beautiful. A face, a line out of a poem, the clouds out of a window, some graffiti, a wind farm. Beauty cleans the mind.

The world is increasingly designed to depress us. Happiness isn't very good for the economy. If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more?

The key is in accepting your thoughts, all of them, even the bad ones. Accept thoughts, but don't become them.

The main thing is: you have a life. And as long as you have life, there is hope.

You will one day experience joy that matches this pain. You will cry euphoric tears at the Beach Boys, you will stare down at a baby's face as she lies asleep in your lap, you will make great friends, you will eat delicious foods you haven't tried yet, you will be able to look at a view from a high place and not assess the likelihood of dying from falling. There are books you haven't read yet that will enrich you, films you will watch while eating extra-large buckets of popcorn, and you will dance and laugh and have sex and go for runs by the river and have late-night conversations and laugh until it hurts. Life is waiting for you. You might be stuck here for a while, but the world isn't going anywhere. Hang on in there if you can. Life is always worth it.

It's never over.

You are not alone in your loneliness.

The sky is always there for me, while my life has been going through many, many changes. When I look up the sky, it gives me a nice feeling, like looking at an old friend.

If you sometimes feel it's all too much, please know you are not alone. And please believe every word of this: it's never over.

I sometimes worry I am losing my mind, but in fact I am only losing the world.

If there is a cloud above your head, don't ignore it. Look at it. It's there for a reason. And it can pass.

You will one day experience joy that matches this pain.