"All truly strong people are kind." — Vagabond (Takehiko Inoue)

This is a thank you letter to the people that have changed my life. This is a public note and a reminder that I am so grateful to have come across as many kind, talented, inspiring, and empowering people as I have in my life.

I would like to thank the people who have shown me kindness and have made me feel seen. This thanks goes towards those of you who have extended an invitation to me and have welcomed me into your day-to-day, hosted me in your homes, cooked meals for me in my own home, driven me around foreign cities, stayed up late to chat, sang at karaoke bars, and have ultimately included me in your lives. It is one thing to come across love in the wild, and another to feel entirely engrossed and surrounded by it. There are countless people who have made me feel this way and these same people have lifted me up, talked me out of my patterns of self-doubt, helped me see myself and my own life differently (for the better), and left an indelible mark on my entire being as a result.

I would like to thank the people who have served as incredible role models and have inspired me to push the envelope and evolve. This thanks goes towards those of you who have taken bets on me, left me with things you’ve learned, helped me realize that the ceiling is much higher than I had previously set it, encouraged me to try new things and see the world from an even greater range of perspectives that I had never truly explored, connected underlying ideas and reoccurring patterns for me, and for suggesting that the life I’ve dreamt of living does not need to be a dream.

I would like to thank the people who have come into my home to play music with me until I received noise complaints, lent me books and pinpointed my reading preferences, collaborated with me on Arena boards, written songs for me overusing words such as “iced americano”, dropped me off at my apartment despite it being nearly an hour away from your own home in the opposite direction, texted late at night to make sure that I made it home safely, brewed homemade ginger lemon tea for me when I was feeling sick, started running with me before the crack of dawn and in snowstorms, climbed with me to entertain my love and rather unhealthy obsession for the sport, lent me your acoustic guitar so that I could practice more, answered my calls way past your bedtime, met up with me to have pizza and talk in what felt like a -20 degree celsius night for 3 hours, herded me around from destination to destination without ever asking me for repayment, hosted show and tells in my own apartment, and so much more.

I would like to thank the people who have taught me more than I could ever ask to have learned, allowing me to see the world for more than I had previously seen it, inspiring me through your own level of taste and skill, discussing for hours on end as to what it takes to develop and be part of a scene, allowed me to believe that I am not just a cog in the machine, pushed me to take on new roles and opportunities, extensively supported my ideas and initiatives, cautioned me to take better care of myself, mapped out parallels between my personal experiences to existing literature and established ideas, participated in the various range of pockets in which I can express myself, placed your faith in me, sent me kind messages reminding me of what I mean to others, incited challenges such as “75 Hard” and helped me discover the power of friendly competition, taken me under your wing and have given me a glimpse of what’s possible when you really want something in addition to having the resilience to acquire it, gone the distance and have come back to teach me about it, and so much more.

This piece isn’t meant to be exhaustive, but it’s an attempt at expressing thanks and appreciation towards the people in my life for the kindness and strength that they've shown me. Writing this made me realize that there will never truly be a proper way to thank any of these people for how profound of an impact they've had on my life. I've landed on the idea that my life will be this continuous stream of exchanges-in-kind and I can only strive to have the strength to repay all that comes my way.

Thank you for everything.