I like to call it a fortune cookie for your mind.
I’ve used Cope Notes for a couple of years now and I don’t throw around the word “life-changing” lightly.
For me, it truly was.
When the Dark Room Feels Like the End
Last year, I watched the biggest opportunity I’d ever worked for collapse overnight.
Seven years of planning, of hoping, of pouring everything I had into something I believed could change lives, gone.
I didn’t answer calls, I ignored text, I shut myself in a dark room because it felt easier than trying to explain to anyone why I couldn’t breathe, or think, or imagine tomorrow.
When you’re in that place, even your own thoughts stop feeling like your own. Doubt takes up every corner and regret plays on loop.
You can scroll all the inspirational posts in the world, but when it’s you alone with your loss, nothing sticks.
And then my phone dinged.
A Fortune Cookie at the Perfect Moment
It was a text from Cope Notes, the same service I’d subscribed to out of curiosity, the one I’d come to think of as tiny daily nudges.
This time, it felt like it knew exactly where to land.
“The sun that melts ice is the same sun that hardens clay.
Who you are matters more than what happens to you.
Circumstances aside, what are you made of?”
- I read it once.
- Then again.
- Then out loud.
It didn’t fix everything but it cracked open a window in that dark room, a reminder that who I am can’t be defined by what I just lost.
A reminder that the same heat that burned down one dream could forge the grit for another.
That’s what Cope Notes does! It drops a little piece of perspective right into your day, sometimes when you don’t even know you need it.
How Cope Notes Works
For anyone who’s never heard of it, Cope Notes is deceptively simple. You sign up, and then you get unexpected mental health messages at random times, science-backed insights, affirmations, questions that make you pause.
They’re written by real people who’ve walked through real pain.
They’re not there to replace therapy, they’re not a crisis line. They’re like small anchors thrown out into the noise.
Reminders that you’re not alone, not broken, and not done yet.
A Little Nudge Can Go a Long Way
I share this because we often think mental health support has to be big and formal, a 60-minute appointment, a medication plan, a 30-day program.
All of that matters but sometimes, it’s the unexpected text that saves you from believing your lowest thoughts.
Cope Notes has been that for me, a gentle interruption of the spiral. A tiny fortune cookie when I needed it most.
If you’re curious, you can check them out at copenotes.com.
I get nothing for saying this, no sponsor, no affiliate link, just the gratitude of someone who knows what it’s like to sit in the dark and feel a little less alone when your phone lights up.