No matter what your major, you’re going to find yourself staring at a blank Word document someday soon. And the blank Word document will stare right back at you, disdainfully, waiting for you to finally sputter out a few words.

Although I’d had three panic attacks in the days leading up to the earthquake, I didn’t panic when the quake hit. My anxiety manifested itself as excitement instead. After all, it was my first earthquake and I was…well, intrigued.

And “spirit”, I’ve discovered, derives from the Latin word for “breath”: spiritus. Breath! A vital sign. One of life’s most important markers of living and of health. A long-term sine wave of in, out, in, out, in, out.

The cost of Paxil CR multiplied. And I don’t mean by 2x, by 5x, or even by 10x. The cost multiplied by 12x. The cost of a year’s worth of Paxil CR suddenly became the cost of a single month’s worth of pills.

I was a junior in college, panic was making a daily appearance, and I was relying on Xanax for each attack. So, when my doctor prescribed Paxil, I accepted it with open arms. But in the long run, all I got was a big hug from Big Pharma.

Nearly 80 percent of all prescriptions for antidepressants are written by non-psychiatrist providers. Like my general practitioner, circa 2005, who appeared to be watching an invisible coin toss in the ceiling when deciding which antidepressant to prescribe for my panic attacks.

Our world is complex. And sometimes, language doesn’t suffice to describe that world well enough. This is where creativity and artistic playfulness come in — made-up words can simplify our world.

So, what’s gotten you to where you are today? Sure, there are the big and obvious things (supportive parents, great friends, teachers). But what are some of the smaller (yet very influential!) things — positive events, negative events, pets, medicines, people, books, vacations, realizations, epiphanies — that define where you are today?

Nobody told me that it would take eight long months to slowly taper off of it. Any quicker and the withdrawal effects would seize my sloppy brain to a halt. My entire spine would shiver. And my neck movement would cue up an orchestra of electric zapping noises. And a hazy curtain of fog would envelope my brain.