50 Inspiring Quotes to Uplift Your Mental Health

"It is okay to have depression, it is okay to have anxiety and it is okay to have an adjustment disorder. We need to improve the conversation. We all have mental health in the same way we all have physical health."

- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex

"I found that with depression, one of the most important things you can realize is that you’re not alone. You’re not the first to go through it, you’re not gonna be the last to go through it."

- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

"You are not alone. You are seen. I am with you. You are not alone."

- Shonda Rhimes

"Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary."

- Fred Rogers

"There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t."

- John Green

"Mental health problems don’t define who you are. They are something you experience. You walk in the rain and you feel the rain, but, importantly, YOU ARE NOT THE RAIN."

- Matt Haig

"You are the one thing in this world, above all other things, that you must never give up on. When I was in middle school, I was struggling with severe anxiety and depression and the help and support I received from my family and a therapist saved my life. Asking for help is the first step. You are more precious to this world than you’ll ever know."

- Lili Reinhart

"Being able to be your true self is one of the strongest components of good mental health."

- Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy

"You don’t have to be positive all the time. It’s perfectly okay to feel sad, angry, annoyed, frustrated, scared and anxious. Having feelings doesn’t make you a negative person. It makes you human."

- Lori Deschene

"Tough times never last, but tough people do!"

- Robert Schuller

"I keep moving ahead, as always, knowing deep down inside that I am a good person and that I am worthy of a good life."

- Jonathan Harnisch

"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."

- Albus Dumbledore

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."

- Aristotle

"I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship."

- Louisa May Alcott

"Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you’ve felt that way."

- Charles Bukowski

"Promise me you’ll always remember — you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

- Christopher Robin

"In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer."

- Albert Camus

"If you’re going through hell, keep going."

- Winston Churchill

"Part of my identity is saying no to things I don’t want to do… I check in with myself throughout the day and I say, ‘Do I really want to do this?’ and if the answer is no, then I don’t do it. And you shouldn’t either."

- Lady Gaga

"Everyone experiences a version of anxiety or worry in their lives, and maybe we go through it in a different or more intense way for longer periods of time, but there’s nothing wrong with you."

- Emma Stone

"Mental health is something that we all need to talk about, and we need to take the stigma away from it. So let’s raise the awareness. Let’s let everybody know it’s OK to have a mental illness and addiction problem."

- Demi Lovato

"We would never tell someone with a broken leg that they should stop wallowing and get it together. We don’t consider taking medication for an ear infection something to be ashamed of. We shouldn’t treat mental health conditions any differently."

- Michelle Obama

"What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation."

- Glenn Close

"Change what you can, manage what you can’t."

- Raymond McCauley

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."

- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

"We are not our trauma. We are not our brain chemistry. That’s part of who we are, but we’re so much more than that."

- Sam J. Miller

"The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of the world but those who fight and win battles that others do not know anything about."

- Jonathan Harnisch

"The pain of severe depression is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it, and it kills in many instances because its anguish can no longer be borne. The prevention of many suicides will continue to be hindered until there is a general awareness of the nature of this pain."

- William Styron

"If you know someone who’s depressed please resolve to never ask them why. Depression isn’t a straightforward response to a bad situation; depression just is, like the weather. Try to understand the blackness, lethargy, hopelessness and loneliness they’re going through. Be there for them when they come through the other side. It’s hard to be a friend to someone who’s depressed, but it is one of the kindest, noblest and best things you will ever do."

- Stephen Fry

"I could walk through fire if it meant making my dreams come true. That is the gift being bipolar gave me. It blessed me with a lofty imagination, an iron will, and an unbreakable belief in the impossible."

- AJ Mendez

"It’s possible to live well, feel well, and also find happiness with bipolar disorder or any other mental illness [you’re] struggling with."

- Demi Lovato

"You are not your illness. You have an individual story to tell. You have a name, a history, a personality. Staying yourself is part of the battle."

- Julian Seifter

"I am bipolar, and I am proud. And that is why I wanted to write a book. To shine a light on mental illness, to be vulnerable about the days I let it take control and paid dearly for it, and to tell anyone fighting a similar battle: You are not alone. You are not broken."

- AJ Lee

"My recovery from manic depression has been an evolution, not a sudden miracle."

- Patty Duke

"Life is like a piano; the white keys represent happiness and the black show sadness. But as you go through life’s journey, remember that the black keys also create music."

- Ehssan

"Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action."

- Walter Anderson

"No amount of anxiety can change the future. No amount of regret can change the past."

- Karen Salmansohn

"Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

"Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others."

- Christopher Germer

"By taking care of myself I have so much more to offer the world than I do when I am running on empty."

- Ali Washington

"You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you."

- Dan Millman

"Whether an illness affects your heart, your arm, or your brain, it’s still an illness, and there shouldn’t be any distinction … We don’t consider taking medication for an ear infection something to be ashamed of. We shouldn’t treat mental health conditions any differently."

- Michelle Obama

"We all have mental health in the same way that we all have physical health. It’s okay to have depression, it’s okay to have anxiety, it’s okay to have an anxiety disorder."

- Prince Harry

"You are enough just as you are."

- Meghan Markle

"Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths."

- Etty Hillesum

"Self-care is how you take your power back."

- Lalah Delia

"One small crack does not mean that you are broken, it means that you were put to the test and you didn’t fall apart."

- Linda Poindexter

"You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously."

- Sophia Bush

"With depression, one of the most important things you could realize is that you’re not alone … Hold onto that fundamental quality of faith. Have faith that on the other side of your pain is something good."

- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness."

- Desmond Tutu

"Self-care means giving the world the best of you instead of what is left of you."

- Katie Reed

"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."

- Anne Lamott

"Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

- A.A. Milne

"Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle."

- Christian D. Larson

"Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart."

- Roy T. Bennett

"There isn’t anybody out there who doesn’t have a mental health issue, whether it’s depression, anxiety, or how to cope with relationships. Having OCD is not an embarrassment anymore – for me. Just know that there is help, and your life could be better if you go out and seek the help."

- Howie Mandel

"Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment."

- Stephen Covey

"You don’t have to see the whole staircase; just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King Jr.

"You do not have to live the life that OCD wants you to live – you can live the life that you want to live."

- Patrick B. McGrath, Ph.D.

"We all have mental health in the same way that we all have physical health. It’s OK to have depression, it’s OK to have anxiety, it’s OK to have an adjustment disorder."

- Prince Harry

"I’ve learned what I can control is whether I am going to live a day in fear and depression and panic, or whether I am going to attack the day and make it as good a day, as wonderful a day, as I can."

- Gilda Radner

"The quest for meaning is the key to mental health and human flourishing."

- Viktor Frankl

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul — and sings the tunes without the words — and never stops at all."

- Emily Dickinson

"Depression doesn’t take away your talents — it just makes them harder to find. But I always find it. I learned that my sadness never destroyed what was great about me. You just have to go back to that greatness, find that one little light that’s left."

- Lady Gaga

"What allows us, as human beings, to psychologically survive life on earth, with all of its pain, drama, and challenges, is a sense of purpose and meaning."

- Barbara De Angelis

"I have been bent and broken, but — I hope — into a better shape."

- Charles Dickens

"Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love."

- Brené Brown

"If you are broken, you do not have to stay broken."

- Selena Gomez

"There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in."

- Leonard Cohen

"In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger—something better, pushing right back."

- Albert Camus

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."

- Helen Keller

"None but ourselves can free our minds."

- Bob Marley

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."

- Dale Carnegie

"Learn to value yourself, which means: fight for your happiness."

- Ayn Rand

"Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light."

- Brené Brown

"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being."

- Carl Jung

"If you feel something calling you to dance or write or paint or sing, please refuse to worry about whether you’re good enough. Just do it. Be generous. Offer a gift to the world no one else can offer: yourself."

- Glennon Doyle

"By facing our challenges and overcoming them, we grow stronger, wiser, and more compassionate."

- John Templeton

"You can either waltz boldly onto the stage of life and live the way you know your spirit is nudging you to, or you can sit quietly by the wall, receding into the shadows of fear and self doubt."

- Oprah Winfrey

"We must keep moving. If you can’t fly, run; if you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Asking for help when you’re down or when you’re feeling wobbly or when you’re depressed is actually the most powerful thing you can do."

- Dwayne Johnson

"It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth — and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up — that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had."

- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places."

- Ernest Hemingway

"When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone."

- Fred Rogers

"Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient."

- Steve Maraboli

"Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it."

- Barack Obama

"Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"For the secret of human existence lies not only in living but in knowing what to live for."

- Fyodor Dostoevsky

"Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes you strong."

- Sarah Dessen

"In order for all of us to experience the full breadth of team human, we have to communicate. Talking about how you’re feeling is the first step to helping yourself."

- Kristen Bell

"Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a different way to stand."

- Oprah Winfrey

"We live in a world where to admit anything negative about yourself is seen as a weakness, when it’s actually a strength. It’s not a weak move to say, ‘I need help.’ In the long run it’s way better, because you have to fix it."

- Jon Hamm

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it."

- Maya Angelou

"The only journey is the journey within."

- Rainer Maria Rilke

"The more you care for your mental health, the more you realize how unnecessary and superficial other things are."

- Maxime Lagacé

"Mental health is not just the absence of mental illness. It’s not just the absence of pain. It’s emotional, physical, and social well-being."

- Meghan McCain

"You don’t have to be positive all the time. It’s perfectly okay to feel sad, angry, annoyed, frustrated, scared, or anxious. Having feelings doesn’t make you a ‘negative person.’ It makes you human."

- Lori Deschene

"The strongest people are those who win battles we know nothing about."

- Jonathan Harnisch

"Your mental health is a priority. Your happiness is an essential. Your self-care is a necessity."

- Melody Beattie

"You don’t have to control your thoughts; you just have to stop letting them control you."

- Dan Millman

"Mental health is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you’re going."

- Noam Shpancer

"Mental health is not a taboo, it’s okay to seek help."

- Aditi Mittal

"Mental health needs a great deal of attention. It’s the final taboo and it needs to be faced and dealt with."

- Adam Ant

"Mental health is not a personal failure."

- Demi Lovato

"Your mental health is everything — prioritize it. Make the time like your life depends on it, because it does."

- Mel Robbins

"No need to hurry, no need to sparkle, no need to be anybody but oneself."

- Virginia Woolf

"Mental health problems don’t define who you are. They are something you experience. You walk in the rain and you feel the rain, but, importantly, you are not the rain."

- Matt Haig

"Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise again."

- Victor Hugo

"Take a shower, wash off the day. Drink a glass of water. Make the room dark. Lie down and close your eyes. Notice the silence. Notice your heart. Still beating. Still fighting. You made it, after all. You made it, another day. And you can make it one more. You’re doing just fine."

- Charlotte Eriksson

"Make not your thoughts your prisons."

- William Shakespeare

"The best way out is always through."

- Robert Frost

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls, the most massive characters are seared with scars."

- Khalil Gibran

"Be patient and tough; some day this pain will be useful to you."

- Ovid

"If you were born with the weakness to fall, you were born with the strength to rise."

- Rupi Kaur

"Healing takes time, and asking for help is a courageous step."

- Mariska Hargitay

"Take your time healing, as long as you want. Nobody else knows what you've been through. How could they know how long it will take to heal you?"

- Abertoli

"What I love about therapy is that they'll tell you what your blind spots are. Although that's uncomfortable and painful, it gives you something to work with."

- Pink

"What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality."

- Plutarch

"Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness."

- Brené Brown

"When you take care of yourself, you’re a better person for others. When you feel good about yourself, you treat others better."

- Solange Knowles

"Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go, they merely determine where you start."

- Nido Qubein

"No one would ever say that someone with a broken arm or a broken leg is less than a whole person, but people say that or imply that all the time about people with mental illness."

- Elyn R. Saks

"‘Positive vibes only’ isn’t a thing. Humans have a wide range of emotions and that’s OK."

- Molly Bahr, LMHC

"The advice I’d give to somebody that’s silently struggling is, you don’t have to live that way. You don’t have to struggle in silence. You can be un-silent. You can live well with a mental health condition, as long as you open up to somebody about it, because it’s really important you share your experience with people so that you can get the help that you need."

- Demi Lovato

"This feeling will pass. The fear is real but the danger is not."

- Cammie McGovern

"Just because no one else can heal or do your inner work for you doesn’t mean you can, should, or need to do it alone."

- Lisa Olivera

"I saw the future, I did, and in it, I was alive."

- Neil Hilborn

"It’s not a mountain that you climb or a hurdle that you jump, it’s something that you live with in an ongoing way. People want that narrative of illness being in the past tense. But a lot of the time, it isn’t."

- John Green

"Do not judge me by my successes; judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

- Nelson Mandela

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."

- E.E. Cummings

"The only way out is through."

- Robert Frost

"Life is tough, my darling, but so are you."

- Stephanie Bennett Henry

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

- John Wooden

"Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow."

- Mary Anne Radmacher

"You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop."

- Rumi

"For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it."

- Amanda Gorman

"You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."

- Jon Kabat-Zinn

"In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you."

- Deepak Chopra

"You are stronger than you know."

- Lori Osterman

"Look at you, love. Still here and hopeful after it all."

- Alex Elle

"Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

"Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say, 'My tooth is aching' than to say, 'My heart is broken.'"

- C.S. Lewis

"I want to talk about it and not feel any embarrassment or shame because I think it’s important for people to hear from adults who have good, fulfilling lives and manage chronic mental illness as part of those good, fulfilling lives."

- John Green

"I hope one day that, as a culture, we can take mental health as seriously as we take our physical health. That would be the ideal."

- April Kilduff, MA, LCPC, LMHC

"Deep breathing is our nervous system’s love language."

- Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy

"The best thing you could do is master the chaos in you. You are not thrown into the fire, you are the fire."

- Mama Indigo

"[Slow breathing] is like an anchor in the midst of an emotional storm: the anchor won’t make the storm goes away, but it will hold you steady until it passes."

- Russ Harris

"If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath."

- Amit Ray

"Don’t let your mind bully your body into believing it must carry the burden of its worries."

- Astrid Alauda

"Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength-carrying two days at once. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength."

- Corrie Ten Boom

"The humanity we all share is more important than the mental illnesses we may not."

- Elyn R. Saks

"When under the strain of bipolar’s strongest symptoms, we certainly can make selfish decisions, but that doesn’t make us selfish people. In fact, because we have struggled and known such depths of darkness, our compassion runs deeper."

- Lyss Trayers

"I would say what others have said: It gets better. One day, you’ll find your tribe. You just have to trust that people are out there waiting to love you and celebrate you for who you are. In the meantime, the reality is you might have to be your own tribe. You might have to be your own best friend. That’s not something they’re going to teach you in school. So start the work of loving yourself."

- Wentworth Miller

"My dark days made me stronger. Or maybe I already was strong, and they made me prove it."

- Emery Lord

"I’m not the kind of person who likes to shout out my personal issues from the rooftops, but with my bipolar becoming public, I hope fellow sufferers will know it’s completely controllable. I hope I can help remove any stigma attached to it, and that those who don’t have it under control will seek help with all that is available to treat it."

- Catherine Zeta-Jones

"What if you moved through the world as if you were easy to be loved? Because I promise you, you are easy to love."

- Sonalee Rashatwar, LCSW

"Many survivors insist they’re not courageous: ‘If I were courageous I would have stopped the abuse.’ ‘If I were courageous, I wouldn’t be scared’… Most of us have it mixed up. You don’t start with courage and then face fear. You become courageous because you face your fear."

- Laura Davis

"One of the things that baffles me (and there are quite a few) is how there can be so much lingering stigma with regards to mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder. In my opinion, living with manic depression takes a tremendous amount of balls. Not unlike a tour of Afghanistan (though the bombs and bullets, in this case, come from the inside). At times, being bipolar can be an all-consuming challenge, requiring a lot of stamina and even more courage, so if you’re living with this illness and functioning at all, it’s something to be proud of, not ashamed of. They should issue medals along with the steady stream of medication."

- Carrie Fisher

"Depression weighs you down like a rock in a river. You don’t stand a chance. You can fight and pray and hope you have the strength to swim, but sometimes, you have to let yourself sink. Because you’ll never know true happiness until someone or something pulls you back out of that river — and you’ll never believe it until you realize it was you, yourself who saved you."

- Alysha Speer

"There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in."

- Leonard Cohen

"If you were born with / the weakness to fall / you were born with / the strength to rise."

- Rupi Kaur

"When you come out of the grips of a depression there is an incredible relief, but not one you feel allowed to celebrate. Instead, the feeling of victory is replaced with anxiety that it will happen again, and with shame and vulnerability when you see how your illness affected your family, your work, everything left untouched while you struggled to survive. I hope to one day see a sea of people all wearing silver ribbons as a sign that they understand the secret battle, and as a celebration of the victories made each day as we individually pull ourselves up out of our foxholes to see our scars heal, and to remember what the sun looks like."

- Jenny Lawson

"There is so much pain in the world, and most of these people keep theirs secret, rolling through agonizing lives in invisible wheelchairs, dressed in invisible bodycasts."

- Andrew Solomon

"So many people look at [my depression] as me being ungrateful, but that is not it — I can’t help it. There’s not much that I’m closed off about, and the universe gave me all that so I could help people feel like they don’t have to be something they’re not or feel like they have to fake happy. There’s nothing worse than being fake happy."

- Miley Cyrus

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them—every day begin the task anew."

- Saint Francis de Sales

"Mental health affects every aspect of your life. It’s not just this neat little issue you can put into a box."

- Shannon Purser

"I don’t regret opening up about what I went through [with depression], because, it sounds really cliché, but I have had women come up to me and say, ‘It meant so much to me.’ It means so much when you realize that someone was having a really hard time and feeling shame and was trying to hide this whole thing."

- Winona Ryder

"There isn’t anybody out there who doesn’t have a mental health issue, whether it’s depression, anxiety, or how to cope with relationships. Having OCD is not an embarrassment anymore – for me. Just know that there is help and your life could be better if you go out and seek the help."

- Howie Mandel

"Being vulnerable is actually a strength and not a weakness — that’s why more and more mental health is such an important thing to talk about. It’s the same as being physically sick. And when you keep all those things inside, when you bottle them up, it makes you ill."

- Cara Delevingne

"Take a deep breath to remember you are the child who lived through survival mode and the empowered adult who chose their healing."

- Dr. Nicole LePera

"What I love about therapy is that they’ll tell you what your blind spots are. Although that’s uncomfortable and painful, it gives you something to work with."

- Pink

"Anyone can be affected, despite their level of success or their place on the food chain. In fact, there is a good chance you know someone who is struggling with it since nearly 20% of American adults face some form of mental illness in their lifetime. So why aren’t we talking about it?"

- Kristen Bell

"Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls your life."

- Akshay Dubey

"It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature."

- Bram Stoker

"There is no cast, no scar, no stitches. No X-ray with the evidence of pain. Rarely is there physical evidence of mental illness, but for those suffering from pervasive mental illness the pain and exhaustion is deep and heavy."

- Emily Sanders, LMFT

"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate."

- Carl Jung

"It has been well said that our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength."

- Charles Spurgeon

"We want you to know that you don’t need to be in crisis or distress to seek help as going to therapy has numerous benefits."

- Carla Avalos LCSW+PMH-C

"Even in the darkest moments, light exists if you have faith to see it."

- Dean Koontz

"I know of no other advice than this: Go within and scale the depths of your being from which your very life springs forth."

- Rainer Maria Rilke

"Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength."

- Charles Spurgeon

"Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out."

- John Wooden

"I was with someone recently who asked: ‘Well, don’t you think that if you do too much therapy it will take away your artistic process?’ And I told them: ‘The biggest lie that we’ve ever been sold is that we as artists have to stay in pain to create.'"

- Katy Perry

"The soul is stronger than its surroundings."

- William James

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."

- Maya Angelou

"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful."

- Sigmund Freud

"My anxiety doesn’t come from thinking about the future but from wanting to control it."

- Hugh Prather

"If you tried / and didn’t end up / where you wanted to go / that’s still progress."

- Rupi Kaur

"For the wise have always known that no one can make much of his life until self-searching has become a regular habit, until he is able to admit and accept what he finds, and until he patiently and persistently tries to correct what is wrong."

- Bill W.

"Every day may not be good … but there’s something good in every day."

- Alice Morse Earle

"You don’t have to do anything especially worthy to create or deserve self-esteem; all you have to do is turn off that critical, haranguing, inner voice."

- David D. Burns

"Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment."

- Grenville Kleiser

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."

- Oscar Wilde

"Increasing the strength of our minds is the only way to reduce the difficulty of life."

- Mokokoma Mokhonoana

"The act of facing overwhelming odds produces greatness and beauty."

- Malcolm Gladwell

"What does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil; it makes you unfit to cope with it if it comes."

- Raymond L. Cramer

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can."

- Arthur Ashe

"The experience I have had is that once you start talking about [experiencing a mental health struggle], you realize that actually you’re part of quite a big club."

- Prince Harry

"When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy."

- Rumi

"Your present circumstances don’t determine where you go; they merely determine where you start."

- Nido Qubein

"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?"

- Dr. Seuss

"And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb."

- Kahlil Gibran

"To all of those like me who overschedule, overthink, overwork, over-worry, and over-everything, please know you’re not alone. We don’t talk enough about mental health and don’t do enough to destigmatize talking about it."

- Ryan Reynolds

"One must never let the fire go out in one’s soul, but keep it burning."

- Vincent van Gogh

"Just remember, you are not alone, in fact, you are in a very commonplace with millions of others. We need to help each other and keep striving to reach our goals."

- Mike Moreno

"'Positive vibes only' isn’t a thing. Humans have a wide range of emotions and that’s OK."

- Molly Bahr, LMHC

"No one will listen to us until we listen to ourselves."

- Marianne Williamson

"Life doesn’t make any sense without interdependence. We need each other, and the sooner we learn that, the better for us all."

- Erik Erikson

"While there is life there is hope."

- Jules Verne

"The less harshly we judge ourselves, the more accepting we become of others."

- Harold H. Bloomfield

"The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance."

- Nathaniel Branden

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."

- Frederick Douglass

"I well knew that one could break one’s arms and legs before and that then afterward that could get better, but I didn’t know that one could break one’s brain and that afterward that got better too."

- Vincent Van Gogh

"While there is life there is happiness. There is much, much before us."

- Leo Tolstoy

"I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am."

- Sylvia Plath

"Maybe we have to break everything to make something better out of ourselves."

- Chuck Palahniuk

"I knew well enough that one could fracture one’s legs and arms and recover afterward, but I did not know that you could fracture the brain in your head and recover from that too."

- Vincent van Gogh

"The gentlest reminder: You might not need to read another self-help book, attend another training, or bookmark another Instagram post as much as you need to listen to, trust, and practice what you already know. What if the answer you’re looking for is actually within you already?"

- Lisa Olivera

"That which seems most feeble and bewildered in you is the strongest and most determined."

- Kahlil Gibran

"When I don’t pay attention to my feelings, I tend to put up with situations and people longer than I should."

- Allyson Dinneen

"My life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened."

- Michel de Montaigne

"Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to, it’s not for them."

- Joubert Botha

"Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves."

- Henry David Thoreau

"No amount of therapy can or self care can make up for scarcity of food & drink, time, or financial resources."

- Whitney Goodman, LMFT

"You don’t need to find a lesson in your trauma."

- Jordan Pickell, MCP RCC

"No amount of support or generosity justifies someone treating you badly. This includes parents."

- Sarah Crosby

"It’s my experience that people are a lot more sympathetic if they can see you hurting, and for the millionth time in my life I wish for measles or smallpox or some other easily understood disease just to make it easier on me and also on them."

- Jennifer Niven

"Because wherever I sat — on the deck of a ship or at a street café in Paris or Bangkok — I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air."

- Sylvia Plath

"Crazy isn’t being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It’s you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever."

- Susanna Kaysen

"The acknowledgement of having suffered evil is the greatest step forward in mental health."

- Stefan Molyneux

"Others imply that they know what it is like to be depressed because they have gone through a divorce, lost a job, or broken up with someone. But these experiences carry with them feelings. Depression, instead, is flat, hollow, and unendurable. It is also tiresome. People cannot abide being around you when you are depressed. They might think that they ought to, and they might even try, but you know and they know that you are tedious beyond belief: you are irritable and paranoid and humorless and lifeless and critical and demanding and no reassurance is ever enough. You’re frightened, and you’re frightening, and you’re ‘not at all like yourself but will be soon,’ but you know you won’t."

- Kay Redfield Jamison

"Feeling your feelings will not lead to depression."

- Jordan Pickell, MCP RCC

"…if you rely solely on medication to manage depression or anxiety, for example, you have done nothing to train the mind, so that when you come off the medication, you are just as vulnerable to a relapse as though you had never taken the medication."

- Daniel Goleman

"Emotions, moods, impulses, ebb and flow with the tide of my life. Tidal waves, at times, in a bipolar mind."

- H.G.

"Start listening to the way you talk to yourself. These interactions will tell you how well you know yourself, how much you respect yourself, and what boundaries you are lacking."

- Sara Kuburic

"That was the crux. You. Only you could work on you. Nobody could force you, and if you weren’t ready, then you weren’t ready, and no amount of open-armed encouragement was going to change that."

- Norah Vincent

"The chief element of happiness is this: to want to be what you are."

- Desiderius Erasmus

"This, too, shall pass."

- Persian proverb

"When we experience an illness or depression not as our own but as the universe’s, we are one with all beings who experience this kind of suffering."

- Jean Leloup

"When well-being comes from engaging our strengths and virtues, our lives are imbued with authenticity."

- Martin Seligman

"Depression can be usefully seen, from one point of view, as the inability to see or construct a future."

- Rollo May

"As you reflect back on the previous weeks, months or year, look for moments you can celebrate too. There will be some, even if you have to look a little harder."

- Emily Coxhead

"The only difference between a flower and a weed is judgement."

- Wayne Dyer

"We need to make mental health as important as physical health."

- Anonymous

"You are capable of creating a life filled with purpose and meaning, despite your mental health challenges."

"You are worthy of receiving support and love, even on your toughest days."

"It’s okay to take time to rest and recharge when you’re feeling overwhelmed."

"You have the power to choose how you respond to your mental health challenges."

"It’s okay to set boundaries to protect your mental health."

"You are not alone in your struggles, even if it feels that way."

"Mental health is just as important as physical health when it comes to overall wellness."

"Mental health is a journey of self-discovery and growth."

"You are capable of managing your mental health and living a fulfilling life."

"Your mental health is just as important as your career or education."

"Mental health issues do not make you any less of a person."

"Mental health is not a joke. It is a silent battle that people fight every day."

- Unknown

"You are not a burden for seeking help for your mental health."

"It’s okay to take medication for your mental health."

"You are not weak for struggling with mental health issues."

"Your mental health journey may be difficult, but it’s worth it."

"You are deserving of a life free from mental health struggles."

"Your mental health should not be stigmatized."

"Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained."

"Mental illness is not a personal failure, it’s a medical condition."

"You are capable of overcoming your mental health challenges."

"Small steps can lead to big progress in mental health."

"Self-care is not selfish, it’s necessary for good mental health."

"Your mental health journey is unique to you."

"You are stronger than you realize."

"OCD is not a life sentence. It is a challenge that, with time and effort, you can overcome."

"Healing is not linear, but it is possible."

"Your mental health matters more than any external validation."

"Mental health is not a destination, it’s a journey."

"Don’t believe everything you think."

"Mental health is not a luxury, it’s a necessity."

- Unknown

"It’s okay to ask for support when you need it."

"You are not alone in your struggles."

"It’s okay to take a break and prioritize your mental health."

"There is no shame in seeking help for your mental health."

"You are worthy of happiness and peace of mind."

"You are capable of breaking free from negative thought patterns."

"Your mental health journey may be a lifelong process, but it’s worth it."

"I am bent, but not broken. I am scarred, but not disfigured. I am sad, but not hopeless. I am tired, but not powerless. I am angry, but not bitter. I am depressed, but not giving up."

"You have the power to change your relationship with your mental health."

"Your struggles do not define you."

"You are not your mental illness."

"It’s okay to have bad days and ask for support when you need it."

"It’s okay not to be okay."

"Taking care of your mental health is an act of self-love."

"You are worthy of a life filled with joy and happiness."

"Mental health recovery is possible, and it starts with seeking help."

"You are capable of creating a positive mindset and outlook on life."

"You are not your thoughts or emotions."

"Mental health is not a weakness, it’s a strength."

- Unknown

"You are not alone in your journey towards better mental health."

"Your mental health is just as important as your physical health."

"It’s okay to not be okay, it’s okay to ask for help."

- Unknown

"It’s okay to prioritize your mental health over other commitments."

"Your mental health struggles do not define your future."

"You are deserving of love and compassion, especially from yourself."

"It’s okay to take time to focus on your mental health."

"You have the power to overcome your mental health challenges."