You Never Walk Alone

You never walk alone... one sentence, four words, seventeen letters. 

You never walk alone... 

It's hard to credit that these four tiny words can help someone in a way beyond the size of the sentence itself, it is hard to imagine that these words can save a life and it is hard to believe that these four words are actually true. I personally don't think that anybody in this whole world can feel what you are feeling right now. There are sad, scared, worried, lonely, doubtful, self-critical, loveless, hopeless and broken people fighting their own battle right in front of you but you can't feel their pain and they can't yours.

Then do my words matter? 

I would say it does. It does because we all are in the same boat. We are struggling and fighting against the harsh world, the dark side or even against that one pending task like washing dishes. We all are troubled, we all are broken and we all have scars that aren't visible to the eye because even the strongest has been shattered, the proud have been ashamed, the happy has drowned in sadness, the healthy has been sick and the confident has lived under the cloud of self-doubt. So, you never walk alone because we all have walked down that path of what if... just what if...

Then, why go through it? Why does it matter?

It does matter because if you are lost than stopping in the middle of that labyrinth is useless, if you are going through hell than stopping won't be helpful and if you are hurt than letting your wound be open won't help ease the pain. So, give yourself a chance and if it doesn't work out then worry not as chances are never last they are always second last.

This journey of recovery won't be easy but it will be worth it. Hence, I would like to share with you stories of people who have travelled down that path of what if...

# The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming-of-age epistolary novel by American writer Stephen Chbosky, which was first published on February 1, 1999, by Pocket Books. Set in the early 1990s, the novel follows Charlie, an introverted teenager, through his freshman year of high school in a Pittsburgh suburb. 

What stayed with me from it: The pain of childhood trauma, the pain of loss and the friendship.

# Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why is a young adult novel written in 2007 by Jay Asher. It is the story of a young high school student as she descends into despair brought on by betrayal and bullying, culminating with her suicide. 

What stayed with me from it: the butterfly effect and the character development.

# Looking For Alaska by John Green

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words–and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

What stayed with me from it: the hidden and stored feelings.

#My Heart And Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose violent crime rocked her small town, Aysel is ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.
There’s only one problem: she’s not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers a website with a section called Suicide Partners, Aysel’s convinced she’s found her solution—Roman, a teenage boy who’s haunted by a family tragedy, is looking for a partner.

What stayed with me: The potential zest for life.

#The Bell Jar by Silvia Path 

Esther Greenwood, a young woman from the suburbs of Boston, gains a summer internship at a prominent magazine in New York City, under editor Jay Cee; however, Esther is neither stimulated nor excited by the big city, nor by the glamorous  culture and lifestyle that girls her age are expected to idolize and emulate. She instead finds her experience to be frightening and disorienting; appreciating the witty sarcasm and adventurousness of her friend Doreen, but also identifying with the piety of Betsy (dubbed "Pollyanna Cowgirl"), a "goody-goody" sorority girl who always does the right thing. She has a benefactress in Philomena Guinea, a formerly successful fiction writer (based on Olive Higgins Prouty).

The novel is semi-autobiographical, with the names of places and people changed. It shows the author's fight against depression.

#It's Kind Of A Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

Craig Gilner, the narrator, is 15 years old and lives with his family in a middle-class Brooklyn neighborhood. He attends the prestigious Executive Pre-Professiona l High School, having studied arduously to win admission. Once admitted, however, he becomes overwhelmed by the school's intense academic pressure. He has a longstanding crush on Nia, who is dating his best friend, Aaron. He feels alienated, and unable to fit in. His stress eventually manifests itself in an eating disorder, affected sleep habits, and suicidal thoughts.

The book was inspired by Vizzini's own brief hospitalization for depression in November 2004.

#Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

The novel digs into the lives of three troubled teenagers as they try to work their way out of the hospital by getting through what put them there.

#Veronika Decides To Die by Paulo Coelho 

It tells the story of 24-year-old Slovenian Veronika, who appears to have everything in life going for her, but who  decides to kill herself. This book is partly based on Coelho's experience in various mental institutions, and deals with the subject of madness. 
  
#I Was Here and If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I was here: Cody and Meg were inseparable...Until they weren’t. When her best friend, Meg, drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning?

If I stay: The story follows 17-year-old Mia Hall as she deals with the aftermath of a catastrophic car accident involving her family. Mia is the only member of her family to survive, and she finds herself in a coma.

What stayed with me: The love.