Thank you <3

Before we say good-bye to 2021, I want to take a moment to thank you, my readers, subscribers, colleagues, friends, sisters, brothers, and partners on the journey.....

As 2021 ends, I would like to say thank you.

To you.

Readers, subscribers, commenters, supporters, colleagues, and friends.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for engaging, even when the issues are hard.

Thank you for staying, even when you feel like running.

Thank you for supporting me and my work, even when you have a zillion pulls on your time and energy.

Thank you for not giving up, even when the darkness is overwhelming.

Thank you for caring, even when you would rather not care.

Thank you for sharing this hard journey, the one that entails fighting for justice, for fairness, for democracy, and for a compassionate world. Even when the job feels too big.

It is not easy. Some days I would also rather be doing something else. Some days I would rather be sitting on a beach and pretending that everything is fine. Some days I wish I could erase everything that I have seen and experienced in this world. Sometimes I pretend that I can, just to restore my balance.

And then I invariably come back and try again.

Thanks to you. The sense that we are in this together, fighting to fix the world we’re in, is what energizes me and keeps me going.

The support and feedback that I have received from all of you — even critical feedback, which I also need and appreciate — has nourished and sustained me. It has helped me remember that I am on the right path, even on the days when I’m not sure.

And special thanks to those of you who chat with me privately. Those conversations — in which we share what we are going through and look for ways to raise each other up — are the real reason I keep at it. Sometimes I try to lift others, and other times I need lifting myself. Thank you for all of that.

With wishes for a new year, a 2022 in which light breaks through the cracks.

With love and care, Elana

####