How A Simple Act Of Kindness From A Barista Helped Save A Girl's Life

#1 Struggles Of A Mentally Ill Person

Mental illness is something that plagues the life of many. The irony of the mental illness is the person appears all happy from the outside but no one knows the constant battle he is fighting from inside. People struggling with mental illness can relate well to darkness, the darkness which continues to consume them even if they are standing in broad daylight and no matter how much they appear happy and fun-loving to the world, only they know the pain they feel inside, one which is suffocating them to death.

#2 Bekah's Story Of Mental Illness

Same has been the story of Bekah Georgy of Salem, New Hampshire. To world Bekah is a girl full of life, always smiling and living her life to the fullest. But little do they know the struggle behind her each smile. Bekah's fight with anorexia nervosa is very old and in all those years of struggle she almost lost her battle, one which made her attempt suicide five times.

In October 2015, Bekah gathered all her courage to share her story of mental health on a health website, "The Mighty."

#3 Life Changing Event

Bekah says one of the constants in her life is her love for coffee. According to the young girl, one dark day when her mind was consumed with suicidal thoughts and she wanted to end her struggle, low in mood, Bekah went to Starbucks to get herself an iced coffee.

Little did she know, one kind gesture of the barista will help to save Bekah's life and will make an immeasurable difference in her life.

#4 An Anonymus Letter To The Barista Who Helped Her!

Bekah wrote her story on the site in the form of a letter to an anonymous barista.

Dear barista,

"You didn’t know me and you didn’t know my story. Most importantly, you probably didn’t know writing the simple word ‘smile’ on my order would change my day for the better. When you look at me, you might assume I’m happy, bubbly, outgoing and full of life. But you don’t really see the complete me."

#5 A Simple Word That Changed Her Life For Good

The letter continued, "You wouldn’t know that behind this plastered smile is a girl who has broken and fallen to pieces. You wouldn’t know this girl had so much self-hate, she starved herself for over half her young life. Or that she’s tried to end her own life five times."

"I’m guessing you didn’t know these past few weeks, and that day particularly had been extremely hard. You were just going about your job, unaware that writing a minuscule word on my drink would change my day and possibly my life."

#6 Thank You!

Bekah in her letter thanked the barista for unknowingly saving her life with a small gesture. Bekah says that writing a word as simple as "smile" may mean nothing to her but it added a little positivity to her day which was filled with negativity.

#7 A Day Filled With Hopelessness...

"Maybe you wrote ‘smile’ on my drink because you saw the feeding tube. Or maybe you could see past my fake smile because you’ve been where I am. Either way, I’m grateful. You didn’t have to make my order special. You could have treated me like another annoying customer. But you took that extra second to add some positivity to a life that’s been filled with so much negativity lately."

"You see, my day consisted of a horrible doctor’s appointment and a horrible therapy session. I was filled with hopelessness, and my suicidal thoughts were getting worse.When my anorexia is bad, sometimes coffee is the only thing I can drink. But I was afraid to consume even coffee that day."

#8 A Simple Act Of Kindness

Bekah says that despite feeling so down but when she read the word "smile" she literally smiled at the word. "If I hadn’t encountered that cup, I could have done more damage to myself that night. When I read that word, I couldn’t help but smile, literally."

#9 Smile !!

"A simple act of kindness can mean the world to someone. It can provide hope for the hopeless. Now I plan to pass this hope along. So barista, thank you. Thank you for turning my day around."

#10 There More To Mental Illnesses

Just like many other misconceptions about mental illnesses, it is also thought about anorexia nervosa, that this illness can be easily controlled and people develop it to lose weight just so they can look pretty. But unfortunately, there is a lot more to it. For many people, anorexia nervosa is a way of controlling the world around them and in some cases, this is a way some people deal with sexual abuse in childhood. Sadly, latter is the case for Bekah.

#11 Fighting A Battle

The journey to recovery is definitely not easy and includes a lot of side effects, one of which is muscle atrophy, other effects include the weakened immune system, fatigue, brittle nails, elevated blood counts and drastic weight changes.

Recovery includes a lot of trips to the hospital and therapy which are usually not very pleasant and results in depression for the majority of the patients. In the UK, 46% of those who suffer from anorexia nervosa recover completely, 33% improve, and 20% remain chronically ill

#12 Be Kind To Any Stranger You Meet Next Time

Bekah's story here teaches the importance of kindness. So next time you see a person feeling down make sure to go out of your way to help them because you never know the struggle any person is going or the demons he is fighting within himself.