how to not die of some terrible disease web md diagnosed you with (aka how to be okay.)

Every day when you look in the mirror, you see those frown lines that are becoming more permanent and the storm in your eyes that gets more cloudy by the day.

"You'll be okay," everyone tells you, "just give it some time."

But it's been three weeks and the wounds haven't healed yet and Web MD told you that you're gonna die from some horrific disease you've never heard of.

So instead of slowly bleeding out, let me give you a step by step guide of

how to be okay.

1. Delete his number from your phone, and every text message he ever sent you. It doesn't matter how sweet or sentimental a particular message is to you-for every kind word, there's ten that made you cry. Toxic people come in the prettiest packages. So take that box and throw it out the window. You're better off without him.

2. Sleep more. Stop wasting your nights thinking about him or thinking about her or thinking about what she said about you during third period when your back was turned. Curl up in your bed by 9:30 and drift away by 10. Take a nap after school while you should be doing your homework. You'll thank me for it eventually, I promise.

3. Wear what you want to wear. Put on those high waist pants that your brother said made you look like a mom from the 80's. What does he know anyways? Wear red lipstick because it makes you feel dangerous and make the wings of your eyeliner sharp enough to kill a man. Dress up for no good reason other than you want to, because despite what you've been conditioned to believe, what you want matters.

4. Smile so big that you think your cheeks will split and laugh way too often and much too loudly because statistics show that people who laugh more live longer, and statistics never lie. (some statistic taught me that.)

5. Allow yourself to be alone sometimes. Not feeling up to going to the football game? No problem. Does that party that everyone is going to be at sound more like a prison sentence than a good time? Stay home and read that book you've been meaning to. Alone time is a rare treasure, so cherish it. Download new music or start a new Netflix series or write a novel or go to your favorite coffee shop and people watch or ponder the meaning of life or find a cure for cancer-the world is your oyster when you're by yourself. It's not a bad thing.

6. Stop blaming yourself. He was a grenade and it was only a matter of time before everything exploded-and it's not like you were a member of the bomb squad. So walk away from the detonation site and don't for one second look back at the gaping crater he left. You handled with care, and it just wasn't enough. Nothing could ever be enough for him.

7. Dance in the streets with music blasting from your car and sing all of the words to your old favorite songs and eat all the crappy food you want while your metabolism is still working like an olympic sprinter and take advantage of every moment because you'll never be this young again.

8. Tell yourself over and over again-"I'm okay."

And eventually okay turns into good and good turns into great and suddenly you can't remember why you were ever just okay in the first place.

The gashes have been stitched and cleaned and all that's left is a thin white line reminding you of before.

And that's okay.

You're okay.

No, you're not.

You're better than okay.

So keep dancing.