Life is peaks and valleys. You have a talent for writing that is incredibly rare and special.

It is MORE than okay.

She is still in there. Within the adult you.

Your writing talent is huge. If you keep writing, it will all come. It will.

I was a massage therapist for a while, too. Maybe I told you?

I know the stress of being unemployed. And I want to WHISK you off your feet to financial freedom.
However…we all measure success in different ways. MOST are extremely superficial.

You, Christine, will never know the ripple effect of what you’ve had upon the world. Most artists never knew. The beauty, whether it be in words or paint, or marble, these artists through time have made the unbearable, bearable. And you are no different.

There is nothing more beautiful than potential. And I’ll be sitting like a proud friend watching you continue as a writer, watching the glorious effect you have upon me and the world. You know what? Fuck that “sitting” crap, I’ll be STANDING over here, applauding my ass off for my badass friend Christine.

But you know what else? I’ll never feel as though I can cheer loud enough for the person I know you are.

So, whether you continue as you are, or whether you get published and sell millions of books, the effect will still be the same; beautiful. And the world will be better either way.

It’s been my darkest times that I found clarity about myself and what I want from life. I can see that now but not so much during those bleak, down and out times.

With every dark time in our lives there is a grace that follows but unfortunately we don’t usually realize this until we are in a state of grace.

You will figure it out. You are an amazing person and a beautiful writer. There is a book in you just waiting to come out.

This is a down time. This is a hard time. This moment is not all of who you are, all of your value or all of your life. This moment didn’t arrive because of something you failed to do. I know how it feels, and why it feels that way.

I have had moment when I wake up and the realization of all I have failed slams be backwards, prone again. Getting up and doing each day takes courage, more so for some than others, but nonetheless…

You are more than what you think of yourself right now. You have been more and will be more. Right now just seems to matter more because it feeds into what you fear is the truth of you.

Each of the choices you’ve made created someone beautiful. I see her. Others see her. I hope soon, again, you do too.

And such good advice and caring you’ve gotten in other comments. Good, practical things, too.

they still could.

You could take one class. Right now. Online.

Better yet? Take it from me, from my college (we’re pretty cheap). You never HAVE to leave home, but you can learn a ton. And then you take another, and pretty soon you have an A.A., and you’re looking to transfer to a 4-year institution.

It’s not over for you, you know. And don’t try to build your confidence for any of these things all at once, in a dramatic moment. Chip away. Then you look back in a few years and marvel at yourself.

Marveling at yourself? That possibility is not dead and gone in your life.

I’m spending a fair amount of time mourning lost opportunities myself. I wish I knew a way to get over it.