Get back on your fucking horse, and ride into that sunset.

I wouldn't call my last entry a cry for help. I'd say it was me expressing myself in a moment of doubt, a moment compounded by the opinions of others; namely someone I respect and trust who was turned off by my voice of self-preservation.

But then I started hearing from people. Those invisible readers that you hope are out there, gleaming something positive from the words you stamp out of your keyboard.

People like Jess and Kathleen who took the time to comment, took the time to let me know how much they enjoy the column and find it a positive influence.

And then of course, I get this in my inbox...

Hey Drew,

It's late at night, and I was checking my email. Entourage (my mail client)
has this weird habit of randomly regurgitating an old email as 'new' along
with my real 'new email messages'. Ok so what does this have to do with you?

Well, a few months ago, or perhaps maybe a year ago, I wrote to you for
advice regarding a situation. I was (well am, but you seem to know yourself
it's a process...) recovering from a situation where I experienced abuse,
and was struggling with the fact that it was impacting my relationship with
my fiancé, my self worth and self image and so on. I hope that helps to jog
your memory a bit, because I don't really have the emotional energy to get
into it any further at the moment!

Anyhow, I read the regurgitated email and it had told me that a response had
been posted to my inquiry on your blog. I decided to check up on you and
read through your advice given to others. I saw your last entry from May and
I wanted to email you.

First and foremost, your advice DID help me. I'd be totally lying if I said
it fixed everything. But it helped. And it made me feel a bit better. And
honestly, that's pretty damn good. The 'job' of an advice columnist is
thankless. People not asking for advice and reading along will say you're
wrong, your advice is horrible, they'll fling petty insults and so on. And
the people you do help won't write back to say thanks (guilty as charged...
Not proud of it). But honestly, it does make a difference. And your life
experiences, and the issues you have had to grapple with yourself make the
advice that much more potent.

Advice from someone that has never had to face any sort of adversity, or
from someone that's never had relationship issues (I know, I didn't think
people like that existed either.... HAH) feels hollow and empty, and is
usually useless. So while you seem to think that your experiences cripple
you and prevent you from offering good advice, or helping people, just
remember that the fact that you've been there actually improves things quite
a bit. I'm sure you've moved on to other things by now (at this point, is it
weird to admit that I'm curious? I'm odd like that) but when I saw your last
post, it struck me as extremely important that I email you. Not because what
I have to say is pivotal to you, or important, and perhaps partially out of
selfishness for wanting to avoid feeling badly about something, but still.
And yes, that was quite the run on sentence, crikes.

So thank you for your advice, it didn't hurt, in fact it helped. I wanted to
pass this along. I hope things are going well for you, and that you're
happy. I'm still struggling with my issues but it is getting better on a
daily basis and I remain optimistic.

Thank you :) And I hope this made you smile. If not, fake it for me, ok?
Ahahaha.

Cyn

God bless you, child. I smiled indeed.

So I'm pushing reset on this one. If you write me, I will answer. If you need some help, I will do my goddamn best.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to answer a question waiting in my inbox...

Send all of your questions to askdrewlindo@gmail.com.