This week, the UK’s leading charity advocating for young people’s mental health started a small hash tag movement called #5YearOldSelfie. The heart of the challenge was to reflect on your childhood and articulate three things your 5-year-old self needed to hear. Many took the opportunity to comfort that inner child and validate the struggles they had yet to understand at an early age. Others, many of them women, purged old regrets by warning their past selves not to fall into destructive relationships or be ravaged by poor self-esteem.
The trend was a rare, healthy reminder that hardships are temporary, life gets better, and that everybody has already proven their strength by surviving their past. It also gives much-needed visibility to the Internet communities that offer support and resources rather than hateful rhetoric. Check out groups like Young Minds and Trevor Project for more.
Childhood Bullies Don’t Have Power Over You
Young activist Mari Copeny wrote, “Other kids can be mean, don’t let them take your voice.”
Adult Bullies Don’t Have Power Over You
Mahnoor wrote that he was “Brave, Creative, Energetic, Good with people/animals, Terrorist attack survivor.”
Special Needs Don’t Define You
There Are Good Memories Hidden in Difficult Pasts
As Billie reflected on the photo of his 5-year-old female-presenting self, “It’s hard to think of positive things when I see those pictures because all I see is someone who I never truly felt I was,” but he still acknowledged he was always “smart and eager to learn good” and “good at taking care of my younger brother.”
Mental Illness Doesn’t Define You
Writer Alanna Vagianos wrote, ” You’re going to meet this thing called depression at a very young age, don’t worry you’ll learn how to cope.
