“YOU TOO?”

It was good of you to share in my troubles.

—Philippians 4:14

One evening I was at my favorite bookstore, feeling fragile and overwhelmed. I was looking through the cards that have quotes on the front, those big, inspirational, “seize the day”-type quotes, from people like Eleanor Roosevelt and Albert Einstein. If you read them on a good day, you’re like, “I will, Eleanor Roosevelt, I will change the world one tiny moment at a time!” But on a bad, cranky day, you think, “Well, that’s why you people are famous, because you do wonderful, inspirational things, and all I do is try to get through the day without crying or losing my mind.” I just felt worn out and hollow. This whole big wall of cards was making me feel more broken down and scraped away inside, so far from inspiration and hope. Then I saw one in the corner, in black and white, that said, “You too? I thought I was the only one.”

I started to cry. Really cry, the kind of tears that have been waiting to come out for a long time. That night I didn’t need big, great, beautiful words from important people. I just needed to know that I wasn’t alone. “You too? I thought I was the only one.”