I just started reading the book "Me Before You" by Jojo Moyes this weekend. I'm eight chapters in and there is one part in particular that really hit me hard (so far):

"‘Tell me something good.’
I hesitated a moment, then I leant back against the pillows beside him. We sat there in the near dark, watching the briefly illuminated flakes of snow disappear into the black night.
'You know, I used to say that to my Dad,’ I said, finally."

This scene reminded me a lot of when I was young.

When I was little, I would get panic attacks at night and night terrors. I would say to my parents, before I went to bed, "I need a happy thought."

My parents would sing "You Are My Sunshine." Instead of the line "You make me happy when skies are grey," we would yell out other colors, like "You make me  happy when skies are pink" or "You make me happy when skies are orange." And it, almost always, helped me not go to bed anxious or upset.

I was once dating a guy and I would ask, "Can you send me a happy thought?" before bed, just like I had with my parents. He would get angry at me, telling me I needed to make myself happy (as you can tell, that relationship didn't last).

Don't let anyone ever make you feel like how you cope with your anxiety, depression or other mental illness is wrong (as long as it's not excessive drinking or something illegal, I mean).

I have a couple friends who told me they would never mind sending me a "happy thought" whenever I needed it. And my mom will still text me at night, even though I moved out, with happy quotes, sayings and even memes.

I have learned that people with anxiety or depression need to find positive people to surround themselves with, so that's exactly what I'm trying to do. And one "happy thought" I tell myself: "This feeling will not last forever."

What's something that you do to help yourself cope during moments of anxiety or depression?