There is one simple but powerful proof that you are still alive - you care about something. Sometimes it matters almost intangibly: that someone didn't reply to a message, that a cup broke, or that a show didn't end the way you'd like it to. And sometimes it's global: you can't sleep because of thoughts that gnaw at you like an inner anxiety that everything is going wrong and you're not there.

A lot of people see this as weakness. Like, “keep it simple”, ‘relax’, “stop sweating”. But perhaps there is more life in the anxiety itself, in this deep concern, than in indifference. Because indifference is the final. It's when nothing moves inside. And if you have anxiety in your chest, it means you haven't given up yet. You're holding on to something. Hope. A dream. A person. Yourself.

We're not told this as children. We aren't taught how to deal with feelings other than “don't cry” and “be strong.” But strength is not being cold. Strength is knowing how to be warm in a world where it's fashionable to be emotionless. Strength is not ignoring pain, but recognizing it and not letting it break you.

If you're reading this and you think you're having a hard time right now, and you're worried and like nothing is happy - remember: you're not alone. Almost everyone has these periods, it's just not everyone admits it. That's the power of admitting that you're not ironclad.

Let anxiety not take you into the darkness, but remind you: you are alive. You are capable of feeling. You're still alive if you care about something..