I took my Facebook and Instagram pages down because I recently realized I have a pattern of running to support someone when I see their in pain, regardless of if they ever would or actually do the same for me. I’m starting to curate who is visible to me and who I’m visible to, because, right now, it’s the only way I can find the egalitarian balance of my giving and receiving of care from people I know.

The quest for instituting boundaries with the people in my life evolved to become the creation of a border wall around a self-enclosed ecosystem / distribution of emotional labor I’ve created, which continuously circulates that energy of love between myself and the people around me. It’s a place where none of the labor of caring is ever wasted, but instead rushes to replenish the emotional stores of the members who are are running low; constantly adapting each member’s ever-changing circumstances arising from a world in continuous collapse. (It’s a concept I’ve personally termed “my family.”)

I reactivated Facebook for a second to look for a photo I took a while ago, and I saw the post w your Rachel Stadder article. This passage really resonated w me because I’m really starting to realize the same thing. It took a lot of work for me to get here over the last two years.

So much of my life in Harford would cripple me in the years that followed, but I feel like I’ve finally overcome it w this new tech writing contract, starting my grad school in mapping, selling our car, our moving to downtown dc in just a few weeks.

I’m really glad that you not only were part of my journey, but going on a similar one of your own. Your escaping from HarCo, too, makes you understand and see me in a way no one else can.

Thanks for reading my journals, Liz.

You really helped me get through that project, and I absolutely needed to get through it.

I’m finally feel healed, and I could not have done it without you

❤️