Maybe you’ve suffered great tragedy.

Maybe your life has been blessed beyond measure.

Maybe you’ve lost all motor functions.

Maybe all your dreams have come true.

Maybe you died years ago.

Maybe all of these things are true, in different universes, different timelines, in the great multitude of possibilities everything has happened. Or maybe time goes on forever and matter is finite, so you have existed endless millions of times before, and you will again.

But regardless, you are here. And in being able to consider these vast theoretical possibilities, we can consider what our lives are now. Maybe there is no other life, no other universes. Maybe this is all we have.

If so, it’s even more beautiful. As fucked up or as blessed as your life may be, it is your life. It’s yours. Take a moment to embrace that.

More than likely, your life, as my life, has had both tragedy and moments of joy. I am grateful for all of it. All the pain and the love. All of it.

I know now, at 31 years old, that who I am and the love in my heart is a gift. Even though I can be jaded sometimes, I don’t let it stop me. I do my best to share it with the world, in my writing, with my students, with my loved ones, and strangers I interact with every day. And I’m proud of that. More proud of that than anything else.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

-Evan Pickering