Think of a cookie. Your favorite cookie, sure, or maybe just a really unique cookie you ate once. Describe it.

Chewy or crispy? What flavor is it? Savory or sweet? Icing or plain? Is it small and can be dunked in a glass of milk or is it as big as your head and takes four days to eat?

Nice.

Now think of a book. Any book. One you read once that blew you away or one that jumps into your hands once a year. Your favorite book or a copy that someone gave you once. (Which could be the same thing.) Describe it.

Hardback or paperback or e-book or comic book or…? Is it adventure or drama or romance or mystery or…? Does it have a smell? When you read it does it make you feel like trying something new or curling up and crying? Do you want to tell others about this amazing thing you read or just savor it and keep it to yourself?

Good.

Now. You. Describe You.

Do you laugh at inappropriate things? Do you dance to the rhythm in your own heart? Do you offer a hand to someone who needs it and mean it or secretly want them to not need it so you can go on your own way again? Do you feel more than you think others do and wonder why no one else sees that person standing there in the grocery store crying over the bagged cranberries? Do you cry over bagged cranberries? Do you drive too fast or recklessly when you’re by yourself but when others are in the car you’re the safest driver on the road?

What makes You, You?

Take your time. Ponder a bit. Look inside and wonder about your quirks and habits and desires and traumas.

You are You. Each of us is. And just like the cookies and the books and the millions of other options in this world, WE are just right as we are. Someone out there likes what we bring to this world. That someone may only feel like You, but I doubt it. You may be made up of the same sugar and flour and ink and pages and alphabets as dozens or hundreds of other cookies or books or humans out there in the world, but what you bring to the world is Yourself. And that matters. You matter. You deserve to be here just like every other cookie.