Your worst year might become the reason you can help someone else through theirs.

Nothing about a bad year is made worthwhile by what it teaches you, and you do not owe anybody a silver lining. Still, something happens later: you recognize the look on somebody’s face because you have worn it. You know what not to say. That recognition cannot be read in a book.

You do not have to go looking for someone to help. Just notice, when a person near you is struggling in a way you happen to know, that you are unusually qualified to sit with them.