i journaled quite a bit in rio. attempting to make amends with a practice that I have never committed to. the sun was thawing me. the sand and ocean waters exfoliated whatever dead skin was weighing me down. people keep asking, “how was brazil?!” their faces suddenly radiant, eyes protruding beyond their sockets. my response: too cool, too anticlimactic. it was pensive. the heat heals. and existing in an unfamiliar place often calls us to traverse some uncharted, internal terrain. i feel like i’m always becoming. and i’ve learned that that is not a bad thing. it’s something that deserves a quotidian embrace. because where’s the joy in being, if we scoff at an opportunity to be made new.