Hello out there. Wow, there are a lot of you. And you certainly are an attractive, well spoken bunch. I suppose, by now,  you’ve gathered that I started this blog on Monday. On Wednesday morning, I hit “publish” on my second entry and, over the next few hours, I watched as thousands of you poured in, many of you stopping long enough to say “Hello, you can see what’s inside my head, your pig is cute, congratulations.” For someone who doesn’t advocate fairy tales, I sure feel like the girl who stumbled into the glass slipper.
 
In case any of you out there are wondering what it means to be freshly pressed, it looks like this: 20,043 views from 124 countries, over 48 hours. Those are the numbers. Here’s the rest: I’ve had visitors from Micronesia and Zimbabwe, Bosnia and Brazil. Some of you have shared very personal stories about infertility, divorce, ill health, career struggles, and your desire and constant battle to have it all. One of you even shared a poem. It was about zombies, but I got it. If the internet’s downside is that it’s zapping our attention spans and turning us into information junkies, its very elegant upside is that it is able to connect people across great distances and cultures. This has never been as apparent to me as it has over the past couple of days.
 

 
What I’ve learned is that Wednesday’s blog post wasn’t about me. It was about all of us. And now you have added your voice to what appears to be a very universal topic. We’re all struggling, in one way or another. Day after day, we walk around, ignoring the fact that the people milling around us are also dealing with insecurities and impossible choices. How many times have I gotten annoyed with a rude cashier, an irritable co-worker, or an angsty acquaintance? The natural inclination to view our interactions through a micro-lens of self absorption is tempting. We’re so entrenched in the details of our own lives that we rarely stop to consider that someone else might be having a very bad day, or a very bad year, for that matter. And doesn’t that lighten the load a little, to know that we’re not alone? It has for me.
 
Since the theme here is truth (don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about the cake), I’ll share that I was hesitant to start this blog. There are a variety of reasons, but the most personal one is this: I was worried that people might actually get to know me. Not the me that walks around in fabulous green pants and Ray Bans (I do love my Ray Bans). The me that thinks. A lot. Don’t we all do it, just a little bit— hold people at arms length, changing the subject to something light and fluffy when their eyes start to glaze over? I started this blog despite that fear because I had a nagging feeling that I wasn’t the only one looking for something real. I’d like to suggest that this isn’t just a blog, but a forum. At the risk of sounding like a John Mayer song, here is a place to say what  you need to say, to speak your truth, whatever it may be.
 
Thanks for signing up. I hope you stick around for a bit. And whichever tiny piece of the puzzle it is you’re struggling with today—frustration at work, misbehaving kids, self doubt— I just want to say: Breathe. You’ve got this.

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