NOTES FROM THE FIELD: What Does the Future Hold?

This will surprise absolutely nobody who knows me: I originally planned to send this out at the beginning of October, a month out from my birthday. I intended to share how I was feeling about being in my early 30s, but...I got busy.

Now that it’s the end of the year and I’ve had the time to reflect, I’m ruminating on the contradictory nature of being in one’s 30s. I’m not “young” anymore, and I’m not old yet. I have learned so much, and I have no idea what I’m doing. It feels like everything in the world around me is on fire, and I am always finding small wonders in unexpected places. It seems that my 30s hold as many contradictions as, well...life. There’s something compelling about that to me, perhaps because there’s something like possibility that lives within contradictions. When everything feels so difficult, it helps me to remember that possibility is a constant, and so “different” is always possible.

I can’t end this note without acknowledging the horrific global events that have been on many of our minds recently, whether that be the genocide via ethnic cleansing in Palestine, the exploitation of the Congolese people in cobalt mines, or something else. It’s hard not to feel helpless, but again -- different is always a possibility. So donate where you can, contact your representatives (you can start with the app 5 Calls), have the difficult conversations with people in your immediate community...and remember: joy can be resistance, too.