I have always wanted to get a random tattoo with no meaning behind it, so while I was in California this past summer for my senior trip, I decided that it was time.

I searched on Pinterest "small girly tattoos" when I came across one that struck my eye.

It read:

Be Brave

Something so simple but so meaningful, even though I truly did not have a connection to the word brave. For a while I thought being brave just meant doing something despite any fears you have but recently I have found a new meaning to the five letter word.

" i think it’s brave
i think it’s brave that you get up in the morning even if your soul is weary and your bones ache for a rest

i think it’s brave that you keep on living
even if you don’t know how to anymore

i think it’s brave that you push away the waves rolling in every day
and you decide to fight

i know there are days when you feel like giving up but
i think it’s brave
that you never do "
- Lana Rafaela

Lana's words inspired me beyond anything words could explain to you, reading this article.

I broke down inside when I finished the line saying, "I think it's brave that you never do."

Because being brave is not just having courage when dealing with pain or being able to endure the dangers we face in every day life.

Being brave means waking up with shaking hands and sweaty palms and telling your best friend that despite you woke up with horrible anxiety you will still attend her 18th birthday party because you know it means something to her.

Being brave means telling that boy no, I don't want to hangout with you today or ever again because you finally realized you deserve more than just a hook up, you deserve to love and be loved in return.

Being brave means at 2 a.m., you decided that instead of taking a blade to your skin to let all the hurt out, you chose to pick up a pencil and write your problems in the form of poetry instead.

These past four weeks have easily been the most difficult part of living on this planet so far.

I wake up every morning feeling like a tsunami has crashed into my dorm and filled my room with water, all the way up to the ceiling. Every corner and crack is occupied by the clear liquid that prevents me to breathe. I struggle to get out of my bed whenever I wake up because I truly believe that the world would be so much better off with my body filled with water unable to function in society anymore.

It has been so hard trying to get this concept across my brain that I am brave for waking up even though I don't want to.

That I am brave every day I choose life. That you and I are brave because we are still going even though despite everything that has gone wrong, we are still here.

So if you ever see me in person and you the see the two words imprinted on my skin understand that I am fighting my demons every day to survive, but I know I am brave enough to go through it.

I want you to fully comprehend that I understand you feel like your drowning and you will never be able to escape the depression surrounding you.

I promise kid, you can survive if you just be brave.