Thank you for videos like the one above that help me regain some stability when it feels like I’m coming unhinged.

Thank you for honesty.

Thank you for a couch to relax on.

Thank you for everyone who made it possible for me to have a space that is slowly becoming more comfortable and homey (my dad, mom, sister, Elyse, JP, their team, people who make appliances and flooring and windows, people who grow trees for wood, truck drivers, sales associates, LA County workers in the field and behind desks, electricians and contractors and landscapers, hardware store stockers, handymen, owners of independent furniture companies and their employees, storage unit people, truck rental people, the water company. I should go on but my head is hurting.)

Thank you for how easy it is to order books from the library. The one I just turned in is 1Q84. Not my favorite Murakami novel due to so much violence and violent sex, but still interesting and thought provoking. The main characters I loved, especially Aomame. She and I can be happy alone for similar reasons.

Thank you for Peachy’s first smoothie today (watermelon, cherries, and water) to cool her down from the inside.

Thank you for the latest addition to our family—Chester the fern. I hope I don’t accidentally kill you, Chester.

Thank you for the book Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. I highly recommend that book, especially if you or someone you know is mortal. Another book I’m excited to read, as a mortal, is Arthur Kleinman’s Soul of Care (on caregiving for someone ill, I believe). It’s waiting for me at the library.

Thank you for comfort.

Thank you for vegan cheeseburgers.

Thank you for more friend visits soon.

Thank you for friends.

Thank you for the self esteem to realize that I don’t deserve to be put down or insulted. I don’t deserve your anger.

Thank you for the insight to realize that we teach others how to love us through our interactions with them, by letting them know things like the above.

Thank you for the awareness that those who do lash out in anger are doing so because they are suffering. I hope they find a way through, a path beyond that suffering. I hope they are able to care for their feelings. I hope the same for me because I’ve been struggling with negative emotions lately too.

Thank you for resources from the past, like a notebook full of positive affirmations, to help me with this difficult spot.

Thank you for new resources, like my first session with a therapist nearby tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you for caring enough to read this. I hope you find freedom from what troubles you, and that more and more good things come to you.