why friends are everything (and why you should donate)

so, while drafting up what to put on this page to encourage people to donate (so vulnerable!), i asked some friends for feedback and advice. a dear dear friend whose known my for all of my years running this biz sent me the most heart opening reply. it says everything better than i could. so, here it is:

"My take on your work: You are not afraid to get down in the trenches. You are the light that shines down into the darkness.  As you radiate your bold bright light into the shame, the guilt, the fear…people see what’s been hiding there all this time.  Once you put words to these feelings, people are finally able to see the power they’ve have held over them for years.  Slowly they can begin to shake themselves free – like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.  That’s what you do.  And it’s amazing.

That is what you need to highlight, and that’s what you are good at.  Being able to take in the darkness and release it into the light.  Providing comfort when there is no comfort to be found.  Finding understanding during times when everything seems inexplicable.  Speaking words that are afraid to be said.  Finding beauty in the mundane.  Capturing joy in the most minute of gesture of kindness.  Dwelling in the depths of sadness and finding solace.  Seeing life in hyper color. Laughing.  Those are your strengths.  That is what draws people to you.  Because you get it.  You know pain.  And you know joy.  And there is a place for both.

A monthly donation will allow you to be the best possible version of you.  To help more people, to have the energy to produce more beauty through words, to finally publish that fucking book!"

thank goodness for friends! and for you! 

i love you all.