‘I Can’t Do This!’

Struggle and bouts of despair are baked into every creative and richly emotional life.

Taos Mountain, New Mexico (1930) by Georgia O’Keeffe

Dear Polly,

From the outside, everyone thinks I have it all — the single professional woman making it all on her own. But I am the saddest I have ever been. I would trade all of this in a heartbeat for fulfilling work and a community that holds me up.

I am turning 35 in a couple months and feel entirely …