❤️ Love this ❤️. If you do too, read the entire thing! Here’s my favorite part: —— ‘And when a wave of melancholy hits you and you think, “If I had been smarter, I could have escaped into something better,” you have to sit with that feeling and let it wash over you. Don’t try to fix it or hate yourself for it. Just feel your sadness. Cry. Write a terrible poem or song about what an irredeemable cob nobbler you are. I’m not kidding. Notice how you blame yourself for everything, including the fact that you’re taking time to feel some feelings (because in your mind, only a loser would do that). Notice how you talk to yourself. Notice how you punish yourself. Notice how even looking at your writing project makes you feel guilty. That project has become a sick Bible that tells you, “Creativity will only bring you pain and humiliation.” Throw that Bible out the window, go for a walk, and vow not to shame yourself for the rest of the day. Focus on the things you love. Open your eyes to the people around you. Notice their flair, their odd sparkle, their sneaky wit, their delightful awkwardness, their fumbling forms of seduction. Then go home and notice your own weird charms. You’re not so bad! You’re just a human being. Tomorrow, anything could happen. Open your eyes, ISMY. You’re young and you’re alive and this messed up world is so full of promise. Accept your path through a million mistakes. Do you know how long it took me to feel good? YEARS. But everything shifted once I realized that we’re all confused freaks, every last one of us, and we have a choice to either blame ourselves every single morning for what we are, or to forgive ourselves, over and over again. So pray to the temple of forgiveness. Forgiving yourself is what makes you beautiful. Spreading compassion is what will bring you joy. Celebrate this glorious, cursed day with other compassionate weirdos just like you, and you’ll stay exactly this young until you’re dead.’ #The Book Club 📚