Before you write a word, read this.

Dear friend,

You found your way here, and that alone took courage. Most of us carried our stories for years — sometimes decades — before we said them out loud to anyone. However long it took you, you are not late. You are exactly on time.

This room works differently from the rest of the internet. Nothing you write here can be searched, shared, or stumbled upon. No one can message you privately. No one can argue with you. Your letter is published exactly as you write it, and no one — not even me — can change a single word of it.

You do not have to tell everything. You do not have to tell it well. You can write three sentences and stop. You can write under a name that isn't yours. You can close your letter to responses and simply be read in silence. All of that is allowed. All of that is enough.

And if you are not ready to write at all — if you came only to read — you are just as welcome. Reading is its own kind of healing. Many of us sat quietly in rooms like this for a long time before we found our own words.

Whatever brought you here, I am glad you came.

— Lynn