I know it does, but hear me out.
What if...it doesn't matter? What if none of it mattered? The clothes you wear, how little or how much you care. The way you deal with stress and grief. Whether people see you as strong or weak. How you spend your money. How much you get paid. How and what you eat vs how much you weigh. Here's the thing: it doesn't have to matter. Because you decide who and what is important to you.

Gravity and reality are one and the same. Both will bring you down regardless of your name. But staying grounded isn't the worst thing to happen in a world where people can clip your wings as they make you think they're help you fly to the heavens.

You think that I'm an open book.
But you've never read between the pages. You've never seen the ups and downs
because depression breeds in stages.
That's not to say that every smile is a lie.
But you deserve to know that sometimes,
my feelings are different
than the ones I let meet your eyes.

Who you are. What you've done.
What you'll do. People you know.
People you thought you knew.
These are all things
that can change your life dramatically.
But you can choose how they affect you.
And that's a lot of responsibility.
But it doesn't have to be yours alone.

Days used to start with a coffee
and end with whiskey.
Those were the days I thought
"if I left, would anyone miss me?"
I don't look fondly on those memories,
but those were the days that taught me about empathy. What I've learned
is that there are 2 types of days.
There's the days ahead and the days behind. You can be afraid of the past,
or you can use it to change the future.

I can't see why. I can't see how.
In fact, it doesn't seem like I can see
much of anything right now.
And normally, that would frighten me.
But if there's one thing I've learned this year,
it's that it's not always about what you can see or what you can hear. It's about what you know. It's knowing that people love me
that got me through my darkest days.
I've found my purpose in the knowledge that I've helped so many people in so many ways. I find power in knowing that my story's not done. And whatever you find when you think about what you know, I hope that it inspires you
and helps you grow.

I never thought I'd see the day
that I didn't think the pain
would be the death of me.
The pain of a life lived in Voluntary solitary.
I never realized I made myself a prison
when I put my walls up so I didn't have to listen to what they had to say.
Then, one day, I decided to listen to someone new, and their voices finally started to drift away.
But it wasn't the voice of God, or an angel.
It was someone who wanted to be a friend. And that's all I needed to be free in the end.
The message I hope you take from this tale
of woe is that not everyone's out to get you. And some people can even help you grow.