Launch day began like any other in our house: my fiancé bringing me coffee in bed, us chatting about last night’s dreams and the day ahead, before I took out the trash and headed into the city for an interview. It’s surreal to release a piece of work that captures the darkest part of my life, and to share it with the world long after I thought I’d moved on. I think about those days, alone in my apartment in LA, surrounded my serums, supplements, and gluten-free sourdough, and how lost I felt— how I spent my days chatting to my followers but no real human connection IRL, how I refreshed the Instagram app 100 times an hour, scanning for likes, desperate for the world to tell me that I was okay, that I was good, that I was worthy. Did you like my stuff? Do you like my recipes? Do you like my hair, my skin, my freckles, my legs, my teeth, my apartment, the way I talk? Do you like my clothes, the way I dress? Do you like me? What’s different about my life today? I have a beautiful support system. I have a fiancé who quite simply, has been placed in my life by God. I don’t know where I’d be without him. I have friends and family who know me, love me, and who’d show up for me in an instant. But more than that, I’m not here for your approval, to make myself small, and certainly not to apologize for anything. I’m here to tell my story. And to answer the “but why are you on Instagram again?” Well, change is not made by hiding under a rock. We need each other to share our experiences and lessons, and this app is a pretty good way of doing that. With everything I went through, I was set free, and if you want freedom, I believe you, too, can find it. It just might require logging off for a bit. Thank you for the preorders. Thank you for such a fabulous night at @strandbookstore . Thank you, deeply, for the messages of those who have listened to it in full already (I’m impressed!) within hours of it dropping on @audible and @spotify. I’m crying. Yes. And I’ll see you Thursday 8/14 @northfigbookshop LA with @caroline_goldfarb xxxx💋lee