You are given two buttons: “Give In” and “Live On”. You immediately press “Give In” but find out it does nothing. You try pressing it again multiple times but nothing happen. You give up and fall to your knees, crying.

I gently get you up on your feet, wipe your tears away and say to you:
“This time, before pressing one of the buttons, think about someone who cares about you or the future. Think about your family and friends, how they would be devastated if you were to GIVE IN. Think about the kind people you will meet along the way who wants nothing more than to HELP you. Think about the person you treasure the most but passed away a long time ago or recently, they would have wanted you to LIVE ON, to experience the good things in life.”

You contemplate about what I said and slowly but surely, put your hand on the “Live On” button and presses it. An image appears before you and what you saw causes you to lose your voice. There you were, surrounded by friends and loved ones. You see people who are still living standing next to you while people who passed away were looking over you from the heavens with proud smiles plastered on their faces. You were in the middle with the biggest, genuine smile that you didn’t think will ever happen again.

Tears are streaming down your face like rivers but they are no longer tears of sadness, but tears of happiness. You can feel your lips forming a smile, it was a small one but it was a great first step to recovery. You want to live, you want to keep the memories of people who value you alive so they can be remembered, so that those memories don’t fade away.

I took you by the shoulders and led you to a bench where we watched the stars go by until you woke up with a SMILE.

“No matter how terrible life is, no matter how many times it breaks you, the correct answer is always to LIVE ON.”