1. Go to a Day of Mindfulness at Deer Park Monastery. Do an hour-long walking meditation. Sing sweet, cheery songs with hand gestures led by beaming Buddhist monks and nuns.
2. Feel absurdly comforted by reading, in Roberto Bolaño’s novel 2666:
“Ivanov’s fear was of a literary nature. That is, it was the fear that afflicts most citizens who, one fine (or dark) day, choose to make the practice of writing, and especially the practice of fiction writing, an integral part of their lives. Fear of being no good. Also, fear of being overlooked, But, above all, fear of being no good. Fear that one’s efforts and striving will come to nothing. Fear of the step that leaves no trace. Fear of the forces of chance and nature that wipe away shallow prints. Fear of dining alone and unnoticed. Fear of going unrecognized. Fear of failure and making a spectacle of oneself. But, above all, fear of being no good.”
Put a pink post-it on this page and read it daily to remember you are not alone.
3. Distract yourself with Scrabble. Make redbait and get a five-point bonus for word of game.
4. Smile as you read “In the Dairy Case, Ripe Prose,” a New York Times piece about cheesemongers‘ imaginative descriptions 
of their wares. Here’s a favorite, from Steve Jenkins at Fairway Market, writing about a cheese called Queijo de Serpa: “It is still made only at night, I am led to believe, as it was when I last visited the cheesemaker, and what I haven’t told you is Serpa’s texture and flavor are like sex. There’s just no other way to describe the effect this cheese has on me. Even though I barely remember sex.” I also love the photos of Jenkins in embrace-the-world poses as he talks about cheese.
5. Find some Queijo de Serpa and eat it! (Haven’t done this yet. Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t have woken up at 4:30 this morning.)