The Support Group for People Who Are Fine

The first rule of the support group for people who are fine is that everyone insists they don't need to be there. The second rule is that everyone comes back next week.

They meet in the basement of a church that also hosts AA, a quilting circle, and on the third Thursday of every month, something called Joyful Movement that no one in the support group has ever investigated. They bring their own coffee. The church coffee is bad in a way that feels intentional.

The group has no official name. Someone suggested 'Chronic Overachievers' once and it almost stuck, but then Marguerite pointed out that half of them hadn't achieved anything in months and the name felt aspirational in a way that was frankly exhausting.

There is Marguerite, who has lupus and a very dry sense of humor and a collection of hats she wears to cover the hair loss she describes as 'a texture issue.' There is Dev, who has ME/CFS and has not left his apartment in six weeks but attends via laptop propped on a chair, which everyone agrees counts. There is the woman whose name no one can remember who always brings excellent cookies and never talks about why she's there, and they have all silently agreed to let this be fine.

They do not do affirmations. They tried affirmations once. Marguerite said 'I am strong and capable' in a tone that made everyone laugh until someone cried, and then they agreed to skip that part.

What they do instead: they complain, specifically and without apology. They compare notes on which doctors have said 'but you look so healthy' as if this were a compliment. They share the names of pharmacists who don't make them feel like criminals for picking up their prescriptions. They celebrate small victories with the seriousness they deserve: Dev made a phone call. The woman with the cookies left the house. Marguerite wore a hat she actually liked.

At the end of every meeting, someone says 'same time next week?' and everyone says yes, and no one says they don't need to be there anymore, because they have all stopped pretending that fine is the same as okay, and it turns out that is the most useful thing any of them have ever learned.