A Post for You, if You Need It

Shoutout to the #alaleftbehind. Long days on the reference desk, programs, and the library just seems a little more chaotic than it even was before you read your first "what to do in San Francisco" blogpost (which you still read, right? Or is that just me?) All this on the backdrop of widely shared articles asking you to kindly not tell people you're busy  and social media updates from your Internet friends who are all hanging out together/talking about how refreshing it is to get away during the summer/eating beignets (oh wait that was 2011), and you begin to feel some real feelings. Some of them may not be the best feelings. And that's okay.

Kimmy Schmidt jumping up and down.
Text reads, "I'm not really here! I'm not really here!"

This isn't for those who are lucky enough to be at ALA right now. Please, continue your conversation. You deserve to be there. This is for the rest of us. And I need to write it now, because I might have the opportunity to got to Annual in the future, and writing a post like this from Annual would be disingenuous. 

Basically, I've been thinking a lot about this time last summer, and this is the blogpost I wish someone would have written then. So I'm writing it for you.

Even if you don't think it's true, it is:

All your feelings are valid.

You are enough.

And you're not alone.

Here are some things I made on Canva. Print them out and hang them up; let them take you through summer. Picture backgrounds are by Flickr user Mark Kao, shared with a Public Domain license. 

A close up of a purple flower.
White text reads, "all your feelings are valid."

A field at sunset. White text reads, "You're not alone."

In the comments, please feel free to share any feelings or GIFs related to your feelings, however anonymously, about this week. And if you're not up to checking the #alaac15 hashtag, check out the #libraryYES hashtag. Lots of positivism and affirmations happening there.