Simply put, this past year was one of the best and worst years of my life thus far. I put an extraordinary amount of pressure on myself to succeed in school and life which led to me disregarding necessities such as sleep and food.
Then, on March 22 (3/22/11) my best friend’s dad violently killed himself in their backyard. She is one of the most innocent, joyful, forgiving people I know and it was absolutely heart breaking to see her in so much pain.
These two things combined contributed to debilitating anxiety and depression, however in the wake of such horror I experienced the most profound compassion and unbridled love from those around me.
One night, we snuck into my friend’s room (while she was gone) and hung hundreds of paper cranes from her ceiling and left a video message on her computer to discover later. We ended it with “The sun is always rising somewhere!”
This phrase became a mantra for us in times of especially poignant pain and now that I’ve learned to manage my depression it isa constantly reminder of the fact that life will be more horrible than you could ever imagine, but people will be more amazing than you could have ever dreamed.
Done on December 16th, 2011 at Infinity Tattoo in Portland, Oregon.