Dreams I’ll Send You | Essay 10

A birthday month practice

I found this on my phone and I honestly can't remember whether I made it on one of the game sites or if I saved it. Either way, it felt apt for the times.

For the month of February 2025, I’ve decided to publish a micro essay once a day. I described the why and what here.

In all honesty, because I’ve asked you to keep me accountable, this mini essay is a day late. I had to meet a deadline for another essay, a long form one introducing a new project in the humanitarian aid sector. Or rather, I had to meet a new deadline after I had blown past the first one. My writer’s block had turned into a boulder and I was having trouble finishing the piece because the situation in the aid/dev sector kept changing every day last week, and I kept scrapping my drafts. Every day, a new development; every day, a new essay. I took yesterday to focus only on work and writing about the sector, and my month-long birthday practice had to wait.

I felt a little twinge that I made it through nine days out of 28, and then had to put it down. Maybe no one noticed. But I did. For a minute, having my practice disturbed felt like sandpaper on skin. Then I remembered the world is on fire, or drowning, or imploding, whichever metaphor you hold dearest. How could it not disturb me?: There’s no disappearing from the external world right now.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t disengage when we need to. Consistency and commitment are essential right now, in how we meet the…