Compass

With my trip nearing its end, the sight of day one-hundred thirty-three cannot be met with the overflowing tank of energy that poured into my first days. Not to say that I’m no longer loud, excited, or going two-hundred miles an hour, taking in all the sights. It’s just to say that those things, the feelings, the perspectives, must be fed in a different way.

You don’t just come in the form of food to literally bring nourishment to my body via kcals. You also come in a number of other propellants, shooting me through each 24 hour pocket.

Numerically speaking at age 21 I’m not technically a child anymore but it’s true child’s play to think I’m no longer growing exponentially and that I lack a great need for you.

You should be wildin on the reg- stumbling, exploring, and creating; new opinions, thoughts, facts, dreams, explorations lie just around the corner.

I need you, to feed my bones, to feed my life, to feed my soul.

I won’t ever stop learning. I won’t ever stop growing. So I won’t ever stop needing you.

I’ll set too many goals, I’ll get tired, I’ll have 112 ongoing projects and 3 new aspirations and still be talking about what could be next.

I have my weaknesses and they’re made to be filled by you. No negative connotations. Just places with spaces for a little more fire; areas with room for additional greatness! That is where you thrive.

But, as I said earlier, you have a number of ammunitions: friendships, community, God winks, special connections, odd coincidences, things found throughout the day.

I need you for my laughter, my sprints across the street, my drive to push past the 300^th step, my need to see all the world for all it has to offer.

I need you for life. I need you to keep being that ever-changing-but-somehow-still-the-same me.

And considering the fact that I’ve already got my hands full, I only have time for the real ones, those right hands, cause “I don’t need no frauds” as Drake would say.

I’m thankful to have so many components, people, places, things to contribute to this electricity, giving me the energy to wake up each day with a fire in my soul.

I can’t do it on my own.

But I am beyond happy that at the times when I am in need I know where to turn to find sources of you.

The past holds wisdom, the present is a gift, and the future can be anything, but I need the power to make it so: family, friends, kind coincidences, a good meal, a restful evening, community, fanciful conversation.

Don’t sell your dreams. Just find support for em.

Thanks for replenishing me so I can stay lit.

Riley Makenna