Pulling oneself up and out of the downward trajectory of death requires Enjoyment, Endurance, and Effort, all of which demand copious amounts of fuel.  Sometimes this fuel is mined from deeply-buried Anger or Rebellion.  Sometimes it’s sourced from unshed tears, forsaken dreams, and hopes  long-abandoned. Sometimes it looks irrational or immature.  Sometimes it involves rash decisions later cried over.  

A person actively involved in saving her own life might engage in “risky” behaviors like falling too quickly and deeply for the most inappropriate person, only to have him reject her exactly as she always knew he would, then she goes out and dances into the wee hours, starting the whole cycle all over again the following week.  Her family might begin to pray for her in earnest or worry she’s having a mental breakdown.  But she knows how important the Enjoyment component of the equation is, so she must persevere (Endurance) and FORCE herself to have fun.  Does she remember what it feels like to laugh?  From the belly?  I’m sorry to inform her, but she’s going to have to invoke her Muscle Memory Rights and practice laughing and dancing again.  If she has to have someone along for the ride, she could ask family or friends, but if she can’t, she needs to make some fucking new ones!  Those negative influences are partially responsible for the reason her soul is now dying!  She can’t afford to be too picky - she just needs someone along for the next adventure.  She doesn’t  have to get into a relationship with the person and should try  to keep thing as lite as possible.  Oh, she didn’t?  Well, so what!?  It’s HER life and HER choice.  I just hope she’s kind to herself when she makes these “mistakes”.  For the first time in decades, little shoots of green are sprouting up on the ancient and bent branches of her very old tree, and it’s a spectacular anomaly to behold; like the once-in-300-years neon flight of a Comet set into motion during Light Years Past.  


The only forces powerful enough to bring back the downward trajectory at this point are of the everyday but lethal variety.  They’re the murder weapons from a nearby toolbox:  overthinking, over analyzing, shame, self-loathing, embarrassment, self-second-guessing, and unhealthy regret.  Notice the emphasis on “over” and “self”:  she must literally get OVER herself!!  As in CLIMBING over herself to get away from the words Herself is telling Her.  


Here is the advice I would share with Her:

“Never forget the beautiful, trusting, innocent 7-year-old child who still lives inside you.  Would you say the same corrosive, damaging, and soul-crushing things to HER that you say to yourself?  Would you deliberately clip her little-girl wings, binding/blinding/ confining/ paring down/and condemning her to a Life Lived In Miniature?  
Of course you wouldn’t!  Instead, you’d whisper into her ear over and over and over again that she is worthy, deserving, and capable of Love, Loving, and All Things Beautiful.