This past week, I went to lunch with a close family friend who I have known for most of my life. I realized while I was driving home that almost exactly a year ago, I had gone to lunch with this same family friend at the same exact place. It got me thinking about where I was at that point a year ago. I had just started to open up about my struggles with intense, overwhelming, and almost unbearable feelings of anxiety, inadequacy, and self-doubt. As I grew less and less confident in who I was, I had become more and more withdrawn to the point that I could scarcely look another person in the eye. But the more I opened up, the more it felt as if I was letting out a breath that I had been holding in for months. Opening up certainly didn't make the problem go away, but it gave me the strength I needed to try anything and everything. I started truly realizing that so much is outside of my control and it is okay to ask for and receive help. I started writing in my journal every