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12 Words That Saved Me From Years of Anxiety

It lifted a weight off my shoulders

3 min readJul 5, 2025
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Photo by Grace Madeline on Unsplash

Two of my favourite words in the English language are “me too.”

They make me feel less alone.

I’ve written a lot in the past about how I’ve struggled with anxiety because of a need to fit in and play the nice guy. I couldn’t bear to upset anyone so I sacrificed my own happiness and well-being for the sake of others.

Then I would take all the broken pieces of my heart when I was alone and try and put myself back together again.

It never really worked. Not long enough for me to believe it would ever last.

I don’t know where I was at the time but I remember walking down the street somewhere. I used to do that back then to clear my head.

About 30 minutes in, I walked past a shop that was playing a Leonard Cohen track. It was like he was singing directly to me. It was exactly what I needed to hear.

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

I stopped walking. Somehow I felt lighted.

It was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.