A sample of Stay Until Tomorrow
Stay Until Tomorrow
Jacqueline Whitney
Thought Catalog Books
thoughtcatalog.com
Copyright © 2022 Jacqueline Whitney.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior written consent and permission from Thought Catalog.
Published by Thought Catalog Books, an imprint of Thought Catalog, a digital magazine owned and operated by The Thought & Expression Company LLC, an independent media organization founded in 2010 and based in the United States of America. For stocking inquiries, contact stockists@shopcatalog.com.
Produced by Chris Lavergne and Noelle Beams
Art direction and design by KJ Parish
Creative editorial direction by Brianna Wiest
Circulation management by Isidoros Karamitopoulos
thoughtcatalog.com|shopcatalog.com
First Edition, Limited Edition Pressing
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN 978-1-949759-50-1
I want this book to be something you can turn to when you don’t feel okay, when you’re tired of the fight of life and need something, literally anything, to make you feel a little bit more okay. Something to make the survival a little bit more bearable. I want it to be the comfort you need in the moments you feel lonely.
I know what it feels like to want and need it all to be over—for all of the pain to be quiet. It is a miracle that I am still here, writing these words. It is not by chance you are here, reading them. You deserve to be alive. You deserve to find the peace you need. You deserve to believe that one day soon, you can be free from the pain. Trust where you are being led to find healing. I am so thankful you are here.
This is your sign to stay another day.
Take it one tomorrow at a time.
Peace is never as far as it feels.
You deserve to see another tomorrow.
Stay.
I am so sorry you have felt the pain that you have. I am so sorry you have felt so alone and like no one understands you. I am so sorry you have felt like you don’t belong here, that you aren’t meant for this life. I am so sorry that you believed the only way you were going to find peace was to end your life. I am so sorry those dark thoughts ever touched your mind. I am so sorry people weren’t as kind to you as you were to them. I am so sorry you were taken advantage of. I am so sorry the world became unbearable to live in. I am so sorry you know what it feels like to believe you aren’t meant to be here. I hope you start to see yourself as the light that you are—you are a beacon of strength. Not just anyone could have been through what you have and still be here today living the life that you are. Even if you aren’t where you want to be, you are here, filling the world with compassion. Even if you can’t see your purpose clearly, you are trying, and that is enough. Your story will save someone. You are here to save people in a way no one came to save you. You are here to give hope to those who are hopeless. You will be remembered by the love you left behind. Because it’s those who have been to hell and back, who have done the healing work, who have used their pain for purpose that leave the biggest impact on those they cross paths with in this life. You see, sometimes life tears our worlds apart, not because we deserve anything that happens, but because we deserve to know the beauty that always comes after pain, the power that comes from seeing yourself through what you went through. See yourself through. I promise you, one day you will look back on your life and realize that you always had what you needed to get through. If you just try to be a little less hard on yourself, you will see that at the end of the day, life is too short to live in a circle of suffering. This doesn’t mean it will always be easy, but it’s up to you to choose how you respond. I hope you choose to heal. I hope you choose yourself.
It is incredibly difficult to call back to trauma. It is incredibly difficult to sit with the memories of moments in your past that changed you forever. It’s important to remember that what happened doesn’t define who you are today. The divine strength that carried you through so that you are still here today is proof that trauma can change you, but it’s not who you are. Your story isn’t who you are. You are who you become from the chapters that leave you feeling broken. You can choose who you want to become. Do you want to live the rest of your life holding on to the past? Or do you want to let go of it so that you can transform your life? You are made new every day. You are given another chance every day. You deserve all of the chances you need in order to be okay.
Even after everything you have
been through, you are still here.
You should be so proud of
how far you have come.
If your world becomes dark and nothing feels like anything anymore, I promise, you won’t exist there forever. I promise, if you just try and search within yourself for any glimmer of strength you have left, and you choose to take another breath, you will find the light you need. You will find yourself looking back on these days and maybe wonder how you even came through them, how you even survived, but you will know that you would not be the person you are today without the dark days. Life isn’t supposed to be a repetitive nightmare. Life is meant to be lived in love with it. You are worth living. You are still here. Thank you for being here. I am so happy you exist.
Hold on and keep holding on.
You are still loved even when you
don’t feel like yourself.
You are still strong even when you
feel like you can’t keep going.
You are still here because you are
supposed to be here.
You are a light
even though the world has
been a dark place for you.
Your light is needed here.
You can’t hold it in any longer. You have to pour your soul out. You have to release the deep, uncomfortable, sometimes debilitating emotions. I don’t think you realize how strong you really are. You can feel painful feelings and be okay. You can let go of the attachments gripping your past. The past is over. Today is a day you’ve never lived before, and you can start a new story. No one is judging you as much as you judge yourself. You don’t have to apologize for choosing to do what’s best for you. You can step away if you need time alone, and you should never feel guilty for doing what you know is best for you at any given moment. You don’t have to apologize for feeling intensely. You don’t have to apologize for being emotional. Being emotional is healthy. Speaking and crying your struggles out into existence is giving your spirit permission to shed the parts of the past—the past meaning five seconds ago or five decades ago—that still grip your being. Please, be gentle. You deserve to nurture your soul.
Back to book options
