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Kim.'s avatar

Dear Suleika & Ross,

In the space between what we know & what we wait for, there is a quiet. And, perhaps, it is in this quiet that we begin to find our true selves. Suleika, you offer the beauty of resting, of allowing burnout to sit with us until it transforms into something else. I am still working on finding the patience to do this. But I find peace in how you describe the unspoken things—the unread books, the lost letters—as markers not of failure, but of the necessary stillness before the next chapter.

Ross, your poem invites us to wonder about a future we cannot see, yet already feel. There is a tenderness in imagining a life not yet here but already entwined with our own. Your words are the quiet questions we all carry, questions that may never be answered but still shape us in ways we can’t fully understand.

Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote that we must be patient with the questions that stir within us, learning to love the uncertainty & the waiting. This, I think, is what both of you speak to—the willingness to sit with the questions, with the waiting, trusting that in the quiet, something is stirring. Whether we are resting or dreaming, we are all, in some way, waiting for something to find us. And in this shared waiting, we begin to meet ourselves in the stillness.

Thank you for this beautiful prompt, a gift to carry with me into the night. I look forward to returning to it tomorrow, when the world has tilted slightly toward morning. X

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Gina Goth's avatar

Hello All. I love today's writing. Last year I hit burnout. A combination of health and work. It was so much more than anything I ever knew. And this description really hits. I love the concept of tsundoku and have done this ( I only have 3 books waiting right now). And I would love to hear if there is more about the 6 students you sent the letters to. What a wonderful gift! And the poem by Ross Gray hit personally. And lastly I have gotten result of test and waiting for more. I a scared, shocked and keep breathing to keep my feet on the ground. Grateful to all of you.

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