I am human too. For those of us who have been accustomed to putting the needs of others ahead of ourselves or who were parentified as a child or whose vulnerable self was neglected, we need to remind ourselves that I am human too. I am human, and I have human needs. Normal human-sized needs. Not small needs and not big needs. But regular human-sized needs just like everyone else.  

There is a math problem you probably learned when you were in elementary school. It is the most important math problem of all time, and I want to remind you of it. 

You have 20 M&M’s and 4 friends. How many M&M’s does each person get? 

How many of you answered 5? That’s the trick answer and a wrong answer. The correct answer is 4 M&M’s each because you must remember to count yourself. Twenty divided by 5 is 4 M&M’s per person.

And for those of us who may feel guilty counting ourselves…notice the difference to the group when I count myself and when I don’t. The difference to me is between nothing and 4. The difference to the group is just one.  

We can afford to count me.