The practices in this course can do a great deal, and sometimes they are not enough on their own. That is not a failure. If the heaviness has settled in and will not lift, if you are exhausted in a way that rest does not touch, or if you are struggling more than you let on, please reach for more support. You deserve it.

Your campus likely offers an employee assistance program with free, confidential counseling, and there are mental-health professionals whose whole purpose is to help people carry what has become too heavy to carry alone. Reaching out to them is not weakness or giving up. It is one of the bravest and most caring things you can do for yourself, and it is exactly what you would want for someone you love. Please take care of you. You matter, not only for what you give, but simply because you are you.