Letter to yourself, for a bad night
Written by the version of you who can think, addressed to the version who cannot.
- When to use it:
- Write it on a decent day. Read it on a bad one.
- Where it comes from:
- The 'caring contacts' literature — brief, personal, non-demanding messages are one of the few standalone interventions with repeated positive trial results.
Anything you type is saved on this device only. There is no account and nothing is sent to a server.
The letter
Write to yourself in the second person. Be warm and be specific — vague encouragement will not survive the hour it is written for.
“Right now it is Tuesday afternoon and I am all right. I am writing this because I know that will not always be how it is.”
Name an actual night. Say how long it lasted and what came after it.
Concrete instructions, in order. “Get up. Go to the kitchen. Ring this number.”
Small and specific beats large and abstract. Not “life is precious” — the dog, the sister, the thing in October.
Where it will be
A letter you cannot find is not a letter. Decide now.
A worksheet is not treatment and it is not a substitute for talking to someone. If things are bad right now, there is a line for your country.