I'm not even fully sure how shark came across my cohost TL, but they've made it better since day one.
Y'all are so validating, thank you so much 😭
Decades ago coughcough on a LiveJournal "tell me something" post, @sagefox gave me a really nice compliment, something along the lines of "[I] brighten the (chat)room when I come in"1, at a time where I was basically super depressed/angry all the time (I was probably, like, 20 ok, there's a reason my "hey take some time to be yourself" is set so high), and thought others saw that too.
Anyway, it truly changed something in my brain chemistry to see someone think so positively of me when I was feeling so down about myself. Knowing that I can still bring good energy to the table even if I'm feeling super low was a really helpful thing to hear and I've tried to internalize it ever since.
Now, y'all know I'm not a toxic positivity person, I'm plenty angry, sad, distressed, upset, RSDed, etc. fairly frequently and I generally don't hide when I'm not having a great time regardless of how much or little detail I go into. I'm not talking "fake it till you make it" here. What I'm really trying to say is, that memory has helped me go easier on myself ever since. It reminds me that even when I feel shut down, I can still open that part of me to the world, whether or not it makes me feel better.
To close, try to believe the good things your friends say about you, and that sometimes, when you can pour love, hope, or joy into the world, all of those can pour back into you. 💛
1 (before this was memefied as something people say about murder victims to the extent that it is now 🙃)
