This week, I learned something: If you put your crazy on the Internet, people will read it. And it will be okay. No. I take that back. It will be so much more than okay.

It was difficult to dredge all those memories up in order to write both parts of “A Square Peg in a Black Hole,” and to then shove down my anxiety enough to actually post them. But the sun still rose. The people who loved me before still love me. I am so happy I did it.

For such a long time, even though the rational part of my brain had processed everything that happened, I still felt shame. No more. I am done with that.

I’ve received so many messages of love, support and just plain kindness. I know this is a cliché phrase, but I truly am overwhelmed with gratitude. I can’t think of a better way to say it. That’s how I feel.

I received messages from people who struggle with depression or who love someone struggling with depression. We’re doing so much better, but we still have a great deal of work to do on the way we talk about or, more to the point, don’t talk about mental health in our culture. I’m not saying everyone should do what I did and put their private business on the Internet (Oh, my God, I really did that, didn’t I?) but let’s have more conversation and less stigma.

There is light in the darkness. It may be just the faintest glimmer, but it is there. Hope is the most powerful weapon in life’s arsenal.

Finally, no good comes of shoving square pegs in round holes. Be who you are, not who you think you are supposed to be.