Pick a flower and put it in your hair.

Run into the ocean with reckless abandon.

Dance like all that exists is you and the music that surrounds you.

Let go and laugh. At everything. At nothing at all.

Open your heart and show the gushy parts with pride.

Breathe deeply.

I know it isn’t easy.

I know how much life can hurt.

I’ve felt so low I thought nothing could lift me.

Believed that if that friend, that lover, that parent gave me just a little more I might feel whole.

Felt so rejected I questioned my own worth.

Wondered if happiness was something I could ever hold onto for longer than a moment.

The world might look big when you feel small but your light can shine as far as you let it.

So please, for me, today, just smile.

Smile because as long as you keep breathing you have nothing to fear.

Because you have legs that carry you and arms that embrace others.

Because you can hear the sound of the rain, smell the flowers in the trees, touch the softness of your sheets, and see the light from the sun.

Smile because you are so blessed to know how to love and how to feel.

Because you have everything you need to feel complete, if you just look inside.

Because you have the freedom and the power to live any life you want to live.

Smile because you are absolutely beautiful. In this moment. In every moment.