Tomorrow Needs You: The Story Behind Three Words
Why I drew "Tomorrow Needs You," what the three words actually mean, and how every order supports the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. September is Suicide Prevention Month.
Before anything else: if tonight is heavy, you can call or text 988 right now — the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential, and open 24/7. If you're LGBTQ+ and want someone who gets it, The Trevor Project is at 1-866-488-7386. This post will still be here after.
There are a lot of comforting phrases in the world, and I've drawn my share of them. You are enough. You're not in trouble. Feel your feelings. I believe every one.
But "Tomorrow Needs You" is different, and it took me a while to understand why — even though I'm the one who drew it.
Most comfort looks backward. This one doesn't.
Almost everything we say to someone on a hard night is about the present or the past. You matter. You are loved. Look how far you've come. Those are true and worth saying. But when someone is in a truly dark place, the present is exactly the thing that hurts, and the past can feel like a case file being used against them. Being told the present is good doesn't always land when the present is the problem.
"Tomorrow needs you" points the other way. It doesn't argue with tonight. It doesn't claim things are fine — it fully allows that they aren't. It just says: there is a tomorrow, and it has things in it that only you can do. A dog who expects you specifically. A friend who will tell you something at the exact moment only you would understand it. A version of you that you haven't met yet.
It's not a compliment. It's an assignment. And I've come to believe that on the worst nights, an assignment holds better than a compliment — because a compliment asks you to believe something about yourself, and an assignment only asks you to show up.
Why I drew it
I run a mental health brand, so people sometimes assume the designs are strategy. They're not. Nearly everything in this shop started as something I needed to hear on a specific day and couldn't find anywhere, so I drew it. This one came from the kind of night I suspect you might know too — the kind you get through one hour at a time and don't post about. I'm still here, obviously. The design is what I brought back.
I made the words warm on purpose — hand-lettered, soft colors, a little sunshine in it — because I wanted it to read like a note from a friend, not a PSA. The version of this message that works isn't the one shouted from a billboard. It's the one on a shirt across the coffee shop, on a laptop lid in a lecture hall, on a water bottle at practice. Quiet. Present. There when someone's eyes land on it at the right moment.
That's the real reason it exists in shirt, sweatshirt, and sticker form: every one of them is a chance for the words to be in the right room at the right time, worn by someone who has no idea who around them needed to read them.
What 988 actually is
September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and if you learn one thing from this post, let it be three digits: 988.
988 is the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can call it or text it, from anywhere in the US, at any hour, for free. You don't need to be in immediate danger to use it — "I'm not okay and I don't know what to do" is a complete and sufficient reason. It's free and confidential, and the person on the other end is there for exactly the conversation you're afraid to have.
Too many people still don't know the number exists. That's why it's on a sticker in this shop — because a laptop in a lecture hall or a car in a parking lot might be where someone learns it, and knowing the number before the hard night is the whole point of awareness month.
And it's why every single order in this shop — this design or any other — sends a donation to the 988 Lifeline and The Trevor Project. So far, we've donated $3,394 together. I post the running total on the site and update it monthly, because "supports a good cause" should come with receipts.
If someone you love is struggling
You don't need perfect words. And if you're worried they may be suicidal, ask directly. Asking someone about suicide does not put the idea in their head. It relieves the pressure of carrying it alone.
So ask. Sit with the answer. Don't rush to fix it or brighten it. You can say "that sounds really heavy, and I'm glad you told me." You can say "I don't know what to say, but I'm staying." You can help them save 988 in their phone, tonight, while it's calm. And you can check on them again next week — the follow-up is the part almost everyone skips, and it's the part that tells someone they weren't a burden the first time.
Tomorrow needs them, too. Sometimes you get to be the one who says so.
If your own nights have been heavy lately: 988, call or text, anytime. The free resources hub is open 24/7 as well — printables, a daily check-in, and calm things, no email required. And tomorrow? It needs you. Specifically you. 🩵
There's a new one every Tuesday and Thursday
Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9am, like clockwork. Free to read, nothing to sign up for — same as the printables, the coloring pages and the check-in.
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