Alex Aide is Program Manager at Born This Way Foundation

Hi Friends,

This has been a particularly rough week in the news, so I just wanted to take this moment to remind each of you how important you are.

Maybe you are like me, and you’re a little more introverted + don’t always like asking for help, and you sometimes let that voice of anxiety speak a little too loudly. Well, please let me be louder in saying: you matter.

You matter to me. You matter to all of us at Born This Way. You matter to your families. To your friends. To your animals. To the baristas that look forward to seeing you every day. To that person on Instagram you’ve never met but always double taps your photos like a true fan. To your readers. To your teachers + professors. To your coworkers. To your teammates. To your gaming friends online. To that aunt that always manages to ask embarrassing questions but still means well. To your classmates. To volunteers you’ve worked with. To that one bug you decided to free outside rather than squash. To strangers you’ve run into and appreciated your polite smile. To people waiting to meet you and your fantastic self in your future. To everyone.

You matter.

One of my favorite words of wisdom I’ve ever heard came from someone telling me in a particularly down part of my life that “Yes, there will be tough times in the future. But there are going to be so many more good times. Don’t forget that!” In that very moment, it was as if someone took the blinders off of me that were keeping me from seeing the happiness ahead. It was simple advice, but I really hadn’t ever thought of my own future that way, and they were right. There have been so many more good moments in my life since then, and there will be a million more. I haven’t forgotten that.

If you or someone you know are in crisis, there really are wonderful and truly helpful resources immediately available: https://bornthisway.foundation/get-help-now/

And if you aren’t in crisis, but maybe you need that reminder of the good things in store for your future, or just need someone to talk to about your day from time to time, about your occasional frustrations, about that aunt that just keeps asking embarrassing questions, you have a community – online and offline – that cares about you and is ready to listen.

Take care of yourselves and each other today and every day.

-Alex