PLEASE READ ON. WE CARE.

Let me be completely honest with you right from the start: I am an old man, and I don't pretend to understand what it is like to be a teenager today.

The world you are growing up in moves at a speed that makes my head spin. I look at the screens, the constant connectivity, the strange new language, and the immense, heavy pressure you all face just to exist every day, and I realize I am completely out of my depth. I can’t give you advice on how to navigate your social media, and I don’t know the secret to surviving the high school hallways in this day and age.

But what I do know is what it feels like to look in a mirror and wonder if you are enough. I know what it feels like to feel invisible, or worse, targeted by the quiet cruelty of people you thought were your peers. That feeling hasn't changed in seventy years.

Because I don't always have the right words to say out loud, I sit down at my desk and I write. It is my way of trying to reach across the years between us. I write these stories for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by the pressure to fit in, or who has lost sight of their own value.

"That heavy feeling in your chest that won't go away isn't a personality flaw. It's a medical condition, and it can be treated—just like a broken arm or asthma."

• "Your brain is lying to you when it says nobody cares. That's not insight. That's a symptom."
• "You don't have to be 'that bad' to ask for help. If you're wondering whether you matter, that's already enough reason to reach out."
• "Depression is exhausting. Anxiety is loud. And suicide feels like the only mute button. But there are other ways to turn down the volume—and they don't require disappearing forever."
• "The scariest part isn't feeling sad. It's feeling nothing at all. If everything has gone gray, that's not who you are—that's what the illness does."
• "You are not a burden for struggling. You are a person who needs help. And needing help is normal."
• "Suicide doesn't end the pain. It multiplies it and hands it to everyone who ever knew you. Don't believe the lie that says otherwise."
• "One text. One call. One 'hey, can we talk.' That's all it takes to break the trance. And you've survived 100% of your bad days so far."