The official strategy is defensive pessimism, always.

I slowly realized that perfectionism just not that important. What's more important is to try to love the people around you. Whatever that means at a particular time is the best you can do.

Morning," I say. "Shh," she says. "If you don't acknowledge it, maybe it will go away.

In our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life.

My problem might be that even if I did go home, I wouldn’t belong there, among people who give without thinking and care without trying.

Before she got here everything had stalled inside me, and every morning I was just moving toward nighttime.

Sometimes you just need to talk to someone who is detached from you. They just listen to what you tell them and you get to form the way that they see you, whereas everyone else in your life already thinks they know what you're dealing with or what you're going through. That's my recommendation for actual anxiety.