Brattle Street Review

By Kendra Gauge

Rule number one: No mental crisis before coffee.

Wake up. Feel the gentle breeze of the box fan from the foot of the bed and wait for the alarm that lets you know it’s really time to wake up. Stare at the water stain on the ceiling and wonder when you’ll fix it – where on your infinite list of house improvement projects is the stain that’s spread across your ceiling, growing for years? You wonder if the home might improve by removing you.

No.

Remember your rule – how can you be sure it’s really a crisis and not just a lack of legal substance abuse?

Slide your feet to the floor. Stare at the walls you meant to paint a year ago, the half-finished first coat with dark teal taunting from beneath. You’ve been down this rabbit hole – it reminds you of your own inability to complete anything. Every book on your shelf you’ve never read. Every hobby you bought supplies for just to give it up, collect dust. Every partner who left in search of more; significant and othered. Every failed suicide attempt still makes you a failure.

Stop.

Stand.

Stretch.

Remember—no crisis before coffee.

Drink.

Live.