A letter from Dec 20, 2024

Dear FutureMe, I’m inside my head a lot these days. I’ve rediscovered a love for indulging in my own imagination. I’ve been trying to lucid dream more. I spend a lot of content moments inside and don’t get out of my bedroom much. I hope that next year I become more brave and get less isolated. As much as I enjoy my cozy, quiet time, I know the importance of building and contributing to my community. My professional goals right now are to encourage my students to publish; to try and get more diverse authors in academic publishing (even if it’s just one or two) because there are too many privileged voices in academic journals. And if I make the smallest difference in a student’s life, I can go home at the end of the day feeling like I made a small, tiny difference in this big, ugly, malicious world that scares me. I hope I can see the world as more exciting and more intriguing instead of the horrible ugly thing that I see right now. Forgive yourself. I love you, self. And I am okay with however we move forward, even if it’s slow and not so significant.