What 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Taught Me About My Mental Health

Last week, I finally got the chance to see the latest Star Wars film, “The Last Jedi.”

Now, you either love or hate Star Wars, but I was a big fan of the late Carrie Fisher. The first anniversary of her death passed recently. In fact, her anniversary was the exact day I saw the film which made it even more special.

Carrie had a long history of mental illness, addiction and a lot of wisdom around the struggles that come with both of them.

It can be so hard to keep going when things are tough. One of the quotes from “The Last Jedi” has really stuck with me, even one week later. When it seems like all is lost, Rey, one of the lead characters, asks Fisher’s character Leia: “How do we rebuild the Force from this?”

To which Fisher simply replies, “We have everything we need.”

Now, this seems like a pretty simple response, but it blew my mind. I really needed to hear that, as I am really struggling at the moment. Yet here was a character from Star Wars basically telling me I had everything I needed to continue.

It might sound like such a cliché, but even when you don’t feel like it — when things are so tough that you have lost all hope — you need to hang in there, because despite not feeling like it, you have everything you need.

Now I know that right now you don’t feel like it, and believe me, I question myself about this a million times a day. Can I really do this, and do I really have what I need? Right now, it might mean reaching out to someone for support. You can do that. It might be a struggle, but no matter how bad things feel right now, you can do it.

Let someone know you are struggling. You might have everything you need, but you do not have to do all this yourself.

You can read my post for anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts here.

This post originally appeared on the author’s blog.

Photo by James Pond on Unsplash