Good morning, friends!

I had a different post typed up and ready to be sent out today, but then I remembered that it’s Bell Let’s Talk Day. Now here I am, starting from scratch, at 2:56 a.m. At the bottom of this newsletter I included:

• journaling prompts,

• personal updates, and

• a song I write to

But before we get to all of that, let’s chat. For my non-Canadian friends here, Bell Let’s Talk Day is a nation-wide awareness campaign dedicated to ending the stigma around mental illness run by Bell Telecommunications.

I don’t want to sit here throwing statistics out that you’ll skim through or preach about different coping mechanisms, especially when I’m struggling to cope most days myself.

This year has been hard, like really f*cking hard. We’ve all had our lives turned upside down - some more than others, but that doesn’t mean the struggle you’ve faced this year has been any less impactful.

I just want to let you know that you’re doing a good job and I’m proud of you.

It’s okay if you haven’t figured out how to balance all your plates yet, or you’re having more bad days than good lately.

The past two months have been my hardest. I’ve barely left my house since October, and honestly, I can’t remember the last time I brushed my hair. And yeah, some days it’s hard to watch people around me thrive when I can barely get out of bed, but this pandemic isn’t a competition to see who can be the most productive.

The truth is, you don’t have to get up and check everything off your to-do list today or write the best piece you’ve ever written. Just pick one thing you’d like to do that’ll make you feel a little bit better than you did yesterday, and do it.

You’re surviving, in whichever way surviving looks like for you, and that is enough.

And if you have time, check up on a friend today. Ask them how they’re doing, then ask them how they’re really doing. They’ll appreciate it, I promise.

Plus, you can always shoot me a message if you’re looking for any mental health resources or just want to talk about music, writing, life, etc.

There are people in your life who want to hear everything you’re too afraid to share. You don’t have to go through this alone.

As promised,

if you’d like some journaling prompts take a few minutes and ask yourself the following:

• When was the last time I was happy?

• What is something I did for the first time in 2020?

• What do I hope will be different for you this time next year?

• What’s stopping me?

• Do the people I surround myself with have a positive impact on my life?

Quick Personal Updates:

• I’m currently collaborating with one of my favourite people, Minnie’s Sweet Miracles, and making personalized cards to go along with her Valentine’s Day sale! (I’ll send more updates once it’s closer to Feb 14th)

• I took a seminar last weekend with one of my favourite writers on how to go about social media as a writer, if people are interested in what she talked about let me know and I can fit it into a post :)

• I pretty much finished writing my blog post on writers block, but it’ll probably be another week or so before I post it up, because of other fun projects!

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  A song I’ve been writing to:

  Supercut // Lorde

Stay safe; Stay well. You’re not alone.

Love always,

- Todo