Focus on describing your emotions without moralizing them as “good” or “bad,” or drawing conclusions about who you are because you feel it. Another reason why diagnoses can be so attractive is because it often feels like they can do the talking for us, but there’s no replacement for open communication and self-reflection.

felt ashamed of the way my brain worked, and a title felt like the only thing that could prove I wasn’t just lazy or selfish.

Something about saying “I can’t make it out tonight, I have chronic fatigue syndrome” felt a lot easier than saying “I can’t make it out tonight, I’m tired.”