A Health Update and the Future of the You Matter Card Project

I wanted to share an honest update about my progress toward restarting the You Matter Card project.

My goal has been to bring YMC back in a more active way. I still believe deeply in the project’s message: that people matter, especially people who are isolated, struggling, grieving, unhoused, disabled, or simply feeling unseen. That message continues to mean a great deal to me.

But restarting the project has been harder than I expected.

Over the past while, I have faced significant hurdles with both my physical and mental health. I have been working with a dietician and trying to rebuild my routines around food, exercise, sleep, and motivation. The progress has been excruciatingly slow, and I have had to accept that my weight management challenges are not a personal failure or a lack of discipline. They are part of a medical condition.

Because of that, I have decided to add medication support alongside the support I already receive from my dietician. I am hoping this will help me make progress in a way that is healthier and more realistic.

My physical health is also complicated by osteoporosis and spondylolisthesis, which make exercise and movement more difficult. This means that improving my health has to be done carefully and gradually, not through pressure, shame, or unrealistic expectations.

The larger challenge, however, has been my mental health.

I have struggled with motivation, isolation, and the emotional energy it takes to interact with people. I often try very hard to understand people and social situations. I care about people, and I want to contribute meaningfully, but I can also overthink interactions, misunderstand things, or become overwhelmed by the effort of trying to belong.

That has made it difficult to restart YMC with the consistency and confidence I had hoped for.

So for the time being, I am focusing on rebuilding my own foundation. That means working on my health, my treatment plan, my sleep, my physical stability, my emotional resilience, and my ability to engage with others in a way that is sustainable.

This is not me giving up on YMC.

It is me trying to return to it responsibly.

The heart of the project remains the same. People matter. Small acts of kindness matter. Community matters. But I also have to remember that I matter too, and that I cannot build something meaningful while ignoring my own health.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the You Matter Card project, encouraged me, shared kind words, or understood that healing is not always quick or simple.

I still hope to restart YMC. I am just taking the slower, more honest path back.