prompt: what I would say to my younger self

You haven’t broken free yet. You haven’t really tried, but it doesn’t work like you think it does either. Kicking down barriers, busting through the wall, and running into a the sun will feel great. But once the liberation glow wears off you’re just alone in an an empty field, having to build from scratch.

That’s not to say you won’t have adventures with storybook endings. You will taste a kind of freedom, a freedom from having to “be” anything. You’ll travel and learn and you’ll never stop being curious. But you can’t live off this kind of freedom forever, all intake and no output. It’s hedonistic, selfish and ultimately unfulfilling.

There’s no shortcut, no high that will carry you through the entire journey. There is no “turn a corner and figure it all out.” The real “Aha!” is to take the N+1 step. You won’t quit because it’s hard, you won’t kill it because you proved it was a bad idea, you’ll just get bored and distracted: idea purgatory.

You’re not a genius, you’re not special, you’re not exempt. You’ll have to put in the work like everyone else. One goddamn foot in front of the other, every day, until you’re not where you were. Then maybe you’ll be free.