No need for an exit

"Thus is the earth at once a desert and a paradise, rich in secret hidden gardens, gardens inaccessible, but to which the craft leads us ever back, one day or another. Life may scatter us and keep us apart; it may prevent us from thinking very often of one another; but we know that our comrades are somewhere "out there"--where, one can hardly say--silent, forgotten, but deeply faithful. And when our path crosses theirs, they greet us with such manifest joy, shake us so gaily by the shoulders! Indeed we are accustomed to waiting."

-Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Wind, Sand and Stars

"What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it."

-de Saint-Exupery's friend, Guillaumet

There is no greater comfort than knowing that you have a friend. Someone who will make you a cup of tea, fix you something to eat, or listen to you spiel for a bit. These small communions reveal an authentic friendship, one bolstered by common experience, a sharing of weight.

And yet it's so easy to doubt! To worry that you're not good enough, that your manners and etiquette are just flagrantly wrong, that every stupid joke you make is odious to everyone in the room but yourself.

Doubt is easily countered, though, and Guillaumet's words are as effective an antivenom as any. Don't rest on your negativity, don't make a sport of your unease, don't be so damned sensitive. Keep moving, hold your friends close, and pray that they accept you for who you are. If you don't like where you are, who you are, you can change. Just take a step.

I hope these pep talks aren't too tedious to you kind readers out there, but the comfort I find in friends, literature, and music feels worth sharing and elaborating upon.