STAY_YOU_MATTER stickers from MyndStories felt like the best gift to offer myself this Children’s Day, a small reminder to let the child in me continue to stay alive, stay present, stay here. It’s part of their journey in suicide prevention, carrying that gentle message to stay with oneself no matter what or who crashes into your world. A reminder that you matter, that self-trust can return, and that staying with your own truth is never a mistake. Shame can sit heavy, almost convincing us that the weight itself is our fault. It’s easy to blame the container instead of noticing what we’ve been carrying for years. But when that heaviness is shifted toward responsibility and accountability, to ourselves first, and then to those around us, something steadies inside. Staying becomes possible. Staying in conversations that feel uncomfortable. Staying with ourselves even when someone leaves halfway. Staying with the work we do and the person we are growing into, trusting that the messiness of the path doesn’t make it wrong. There’s no single correct route through this life. Most choices make sense only in hindsight, and most of us learned our sharper edges as ways to defend ourselves when hurt kept coming. That doesn’t make us bad. It makes us human. And it invites repair. So the wish for today is simple: stay when it hurts. Stay with the ache instead of turning against yourself. Stay with the trust that the intensity will ease. Stay with the possibility that support exists and that asking for it is not a burden. Stay with the child inside, the one who still hopes, still learns, still wants to be seen without judgement. For this Children’s Day, may that child stay alive within and around us, held with gentleness and allowed to grow.
