On self care, community care

Dear friends,

I've spent the last [amount of time redacted] worrying about a close friend. Even that feels like too much information for a semi-public email newsletter. But all specifics aside, these last few [amount of time redacted] have been a true test of my ability to care for myself while caring for others. I'm sure many of you can relate. After a few days of out-of-body level anxiety, I finally called out "sick" from work on Monday. I took a risk and told my boss (via email) what I was going through, in broad strokes. Her response? "That sounds hard. No problem." I was truly shocked. I've never asked for a mental-health day before; always creating some elaborate headache or food poisoning scenario to justify the time to myself. With my supervisor's blessing, I spent yesterday ignoring my phone, watching junk TV, cooking, and doing laundry. Today I feel almost normal again, whatever that means. 

It's interesting to reframe myself as a person living with mental illness. I have ofte…