On connection.

January 31, 2025

This has been my diary for 12 years.

I’ve documented some of my greatest adventures and my most mundane moments here. 

I’ve talked about my journey to a bipolar diagnosis, my coming to terms with the realities of disability, the loss of loved ones and dear friends, my suicide attempts, and my battle with substance abuse.

I’ve shared my travels around the world, news about the births of my niece and nephew, stories about picking up to start over again somewhere new, and the resolutions I’ve made my mantras to guide my life.

I grew up here. I came out here. I wrote it all down here.

I like to tell myself that I did it just for me, but I know I did it for us.

What we often forget is that once we post, we do not own these stories. We hand over the most intimate details of our lives to nefarious powers that exploit this information to find new, insidious ways to trap us in a cycle of dopamine spikes and withdrawals. 

Our darkest secrets and most cherished memories are used to manipulate our collective understanding, and to polarize our minds into believing in unnatural binaries. Left versus right. Good versus evil. Us versus them.

In truth, we are enveloped by sublime spectrum. If these years have taught me anything, it is that we are so much more similar than we are different. We are only told otherwise as a means to control us. 

I believe, fundamentally, that human beings are born out of love rather than hate. You have more in common with the houseless person on the subway than the billionaires sitting front row at the inauguration.

There is a new awakening coming. I can feel it in the marrow of my bones. Though the night is darkest before the dawn, our humanity will prevail.

I will not stop writing about my joy, and I hope you don’t either. I implore you to take back your narrative. Secure your right to communicate and connect with each other in private. Decentralize your life. It should belong to you, and whomever you decide to share it with.

I will be closing this book at midnight tonight, but I refuse to disappear. 

Look for the light and you will find me there. 

Unapologetically, with love, and Grace, too.