Dear Brain,
Please calm down. No, seriously, I mean it, calm the fuck down. You can go to sleep. There will be no hurricane, fire, serial killer, tornado, alien abduction, end of the universe tonight. You will wake up tomorrow morning just as you have for the past eighteen years. You will put on pants, brush your teeth, and go to work.
I get it. You're stressed. And I'm going to write some really inspirational things right now, and you aren't going to believe them right now. But that's okay. Read them. Reread them. Keep reading them.
No one hates you. Well, maybe that one professor, but your friends? They love you. Not because they have to, but because they want to. They do not hate you behind your back. They're your friends, and they care about you, whether you believe it or not.
Your therapist doesn't think you're crazy. Well...maybe a little crazy, but not broken. If he did, he could have said so by now. He keeps talking to you because he thinks there's hope. He doesn't think you're beyond help. Hang in there. Stop worrying about it. You're sane...mostly.
You don't have cancer, you have a headache. They happen. Take an Advil.
Your friends don't think you're a burden.
You don't hate theatre, you're just going through a rough patch right now. It'll come back.
The elevator is not going to drop you to your death.
That man on the street is not plotting your demise.
Be wary, but don't lock yourself away because you're scared.
You're beautiful, and creative, and talented, and smart. And worthy.
Asking for help doesn't make you weak.
Asking for help doesn't make you a burden.
Stop apologizing. You're just breathing. You're being alive. You don't have to be sorry just for existing. Promise.
You still have a place in this life.
You matter.
You still matter.
Don't give up.
