Still Here

You are still here.

Some days that is the whole of it. You got through the night. You are in the chair, or the bed, or by the window. The road has been long, and it is not over, and you are still here.

This book is for you. Fifty-two short conversations, one for each week of a year. They do not ask you to be better than you are. They do not ask you to feel anything in particular. They meet you where you actually are - tired, or flat, or angry, or quietly hoping - and they sit with you there.

Some weeks you will read a page and want to talk about it. Some weeks you will read it and want to be left alone. Both are fine. There is no right way to use this book. You can read it with a chaplain or a friend, or on your own. You can start at the beginning or open it anywhere. You can skip what does not fit and come back to it later.

The conversations are honest. They do not pretend the road is shorter than it is. But they keep returning to one quiet thing, underneath everything: you are not walking it alone.

Still Here: 52 Conversations is one of two paired volumes. Its companion, Still Here: A Chaplain's Companion for Faith and Mental Health, is written for the chaplains, carers, and friends who walk alongside.