[ WP ] Every ten years you 're allowed to have a conversation with your ten-year-younger self , but only the senior remembers the conversation . 20 year old you wakes up from talking to 30 year old you with one word carved on their arm ...

I was diagnosed with clinical depression in my late teens, though it was likely a part of me years before. I knew about the conversations with my younger self every ten years ( everyone did it ), and fortunately with the help of therapy and medication I lasted until I was 20. 
 
 I woke up, eager to see what word I would have on my arm. Looking down, I saw what would keep me going for at least another ten years: `` LIVE''. 
 
 From that moment forward, I did my best to keep a positive attitude. Through college I volunteered at every chance, and though it took me a while, I eventually graduated with a degree. My parents were thrilled, and things were looking up. I got an internship at a local start-up, started dating a girl I knew from school, and would make sure to look at my arm at least once a day, as though to say `` I will.'' 
 
 When I was 26, my girlfriend dumped me. It hurt more than you could imagine, and the depression came back in full force. It affected my job, and I was eventually let go. I wound up moving back in with my parents, which did n't help anything but I had little choice in the matter. 
 
 There were several times I thought about ending it all. But every time, I would look down at my arm and see that four-letter word that always kept me going. Thinking on it, I realized I would be in a better place in my 30s, enough so that I would make sure I'd use the one word to keep my past self alive to see it. 
 
 Things turned around again when I was 28. I got a new, much better job, and could finally afford a really nice one-bedroom apartment in the city. My colleagues and I got along great, and I wound up dating a coworker's roommate for a while. It did n't last, but I was back out there again, feeling better. The depression retracted, albeit slowly, but it was enough to get me to 30. Seeing my 20-year-old self, I simply instructed him to live. 
 
 The next day I woke with a smile, pleased with my conversation to help my past self and obsessively curious as to what new word I'd have on my arm this time. 
 
 Only, there was n't one. 
 
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