Gratitude and Reciprocity: The Value We Give Each Other.
Amanda Stern
December 28, 2022
As we end the year, I'd like to thank you all for your encouragement and enthusiasm for this work, and to share a bit about why I do it.
Because I grew up with a panic disorder that went undiagnosed until I was 25, I suffered silently, spending my energy hiding my symptoms from others because I believed that no one else was compromised in this way.
Once I discovered that I wasn't the only human being with panic and anxiety disorder, I began to feel a moral responsibility to share my personal experience with others.
Without sharing how we suffer, we are left to believe we're doing life wrong, and we walk around with the secret worry that we're defective and broken.
The "How to Live" newsletter is a record of what being human has felt like for me while also serving as a free and growing online archive of universal emotions, psychological concepts, mental health conditions, tools, and practices that offers us proof and validation that we're not weird, or wrong, or broken or alone.
This newsletter hopes to reassure us that feeling wrong, broken, and alone is the most human feeling of all, while also confirming that feelings are not facts.
It's vital this resource remains accessible to everyone.
The only way I can continue writing this newsletter, dedicating myself full time to read, research, write, and produce this content, while keeping articles unlocked and paywall-free for everyone who needs it is to rely on the patronage of subscribers and readers, like you.
Illustration by Kei Tsuruharatani
You've sent many thank you emails and DMs to share the most gracious things about how this newsletter has helped you feel seen, understood, and validated.
When you tell me my work helps you feel less alone, you help me feel less alone.
It’s a form of reciprocity; it helps us both.
As we move into the new year, I’d love it if you’d take a moment to consider the value you’ve gotten from the “How to Live” newsletter.
If this work has helped you feel less alone and more understood by something I wrote, please consider an offering, an exchange in value with either a one-time donation or a recurring one.
It's the only way I can continue writing this newsletter.
Thank you for your support, and I hope your new year finds you healthy and optimistic.
Amanda
📬 Email me at: [email protected]
📖 Buy my book Little Panic: Dispatches from an Anxious Life
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