“I had, in my mid-twenties, eventually finished my bachelor's degree, which allowed me to apply to graduate school, but that feels like a minor victory in the midst of constant failure. I have never felt truly good at any of the things I started, so I abandon them when the weight of mediocrity—or worse, inability—becomes too overwhelming. Graduate school, I believe, is something I am good at. For it to become another thing I do not finish, cannot finish, would be devastating.”