Any Advice for Your Past Self?

?She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it).?
Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

When it comes to giving and receiving advice we’re all guilty of Alice-like behaviour, dishing out the wisdom and curating the Pinterest board of snappy and generally pastel-toned wisdom. However it comes to personal problems with an immediacy one cannot ignore it all becomes a little down-the-rabbit-hole. Looking after our mental health should always be a priority and we applaud campaigner Aoife Price and journalist Cassie Delaney for reminding us to take some time to remember that. The two young women are behind the ?Love, from future you? project and video which depicts four people reading out snippets from letters sent from all over the world from people sharing their mental health journeys and the advice they’d give their younger selves going through a tough time.

The project was born of July’s ?Dame Street Incident? and the inaccurate and isolating way people reacted about mental health on social media. ?We wanted to create something that demonstrated the fact that everyone has mental health,? explains Cassie. A call-to-action ensued where people were asked to write letters to their past selves. Over 450 letters were sent into the pair who arranged the words, sentences and the sentiment into one piece. Cassie says, ?Each word, sentence, phrase or sentiment in the letter is part of another story. There are hundreds of lives contained in this piece. There’s a part of hundreds of people in here?. Aoife hopes anyone going experiencing mental health difficulties is consoled by the resulting video, saying ?the aim is to emphasize to people that what they’re experiencing is treatable, manageable and that ultimately they have a future and anything is possible?.

lovefromfutureyou.com

What sort of advice would you give your past self? Let us know on Twitter @IMAGE_daily or in the comments below.

Follow Jeanne Sutton on Twitter @jeannedesutun