“

For my fellow raritos, perfectionists, wanderers, overthinkers, builders, and humans of internet land still figuring things out and still learning how to play…outside the boxes.

Is it possible for the paradox to coexist? We’re growing. We’re learning new ways of being that align with our values. Inch by inch. Step by step.

We’re possibly uncomfortable because we’re in new territory! Here are terrains we haven’t explored. We might trip up on a bush because we’re taking a path less traveled.

Can it be possible we’re doing better than we think we are and we are not yet where we’d like to be? Can you remember you’re not alone on this adventure of life?

Maybe you might meet past figures that question you. Maybe they remind you you’re too foolish to embark on this endeavor…that maybe this discomfort is a sign that you’ve entered the wrong cave, that you’re too late.

Maybe…But what if who we finally meet is a different version of ourselves, or the version we’ve been longing to meet. The treasures we find can be wisdom that couldn’t have been earned elsewhere. Friends, companions, community. The more-than-human worlds. The unseen. A treasure of belonging to the interconnectedness of life on this planet.

I can’t promise you won’t meet the giants named Despair, Doubt, Mischaracterization, Humiliation, Loneliness, Judgement, Shame, Misunderstanding, Rejection, Grief, Hopelessness, and Fear. I’ve met them all, time and time again and even yesterday and last week.

There are many occasions I run back to my cave and lick my wounds thinking, believing that I can no longer face them.

But, then I meet a friend called Heart. She seems to see the world very differently and guides me when I’m utterly lost. I’m trying to listen to her whispers.

She may send me people. Sometimes classes. Sometimes books. Sometimes films. Sometimes teachers. Sometimes experience. Sometimes words from a stranger that I needed to hear.

She’ll leave behind laughter. She gave me a camera one day. She has many ideas. She reminds me of a child, excited maybe a bit naïve but she looks at this world through a lens of wonder, curiosity, and play.

My dear fellow traveler, I know I don’t have to tell you the world around us seems to be changing at an extremely fast pace. Though I know this would bring comfort, my offering is not certainty. My offering is not capital T Truth.

Maybe my offering in this letter is simply companionship as we traverse the valleys of Uncertainty, together.

También soy rarito.

I’m also a bit weird. I don’t always know what I’m doing. I get sad. I overthink. And at times (too many times to count) I’m terrified. But today I wanted to write to you.

Maybe just to say please don’t give up. I’m here too. And you’re one of the reasons I want to continue this project, so together we can create a world where we belong just as we are. Rarito and all.

.

.

.

P.S. I’m intentionally using rarit(o) throughout. I guess I want to play with language, too. :)