Ten years.

Hey there,

Well, it's been a long time since you've heard from me - and I apologize for dropping off so suddenly; no explanation or reassurance that I'm ok.

To get that out of the way first - I am very, very much ok. :)

Having spent the past year not being a person on the internet, with a quiet inbox and no social media to check, without my life splayed out for everyone to see, I have to say - I've really liked it. And I'm not sure I want to be a person on the internet again quite yet.

But this week was a bit of a milestone, and it felt appropriate to share it with you and all your fellow readers.

See, ten years ago, I decided to sell everything, buy a one-way ticket to Thailand, and start this crazy adventure. Ten. Years.

It's been a decade on the road, experiencing things I never thought possible, couldn't have expected. I learned languages, made friends, had my world cracked open and my perspective upended more times than I can count.

Came back to simple truths: people are good, that everyone everywhere is basically the same, that if I think someone or some place is evil or bad or scary, I probably just don't understand them well enough.

Found the resilience of people across the world, both personal and cultural. Found mine as well.

Even finally got the year of therapy I've needed to heal some old, old wounds.

And right now, I'm sitting in my usual apartment in Paris after another year of travel, suitcases strewn out and slowly getting filled up. But all of them, this time. See, I'm not leaving a bag here for the first time in eight years. This weekend, I'll drag all these bags down a hundred stairs, into a taxi, and fly home. Home that actually feels like home. The Rocky Mountains.

In the last month, more than anything, I've had this image of a huge, huge book, hundreds of times bigger than me, and one giant page turning, finally falling. A decade's worth of stories collected, for recollecting another time.

And a new page spreading in front of me. Blank. Vast and wild and untamed. A place where anything could happen next.

And friend, dear friend, I cannot wait to start writing that next chapter.

Thank you so, so much for being a part of this journey with me. I don't know what the future will hold for me in terms of these letters, sharing my work publicly, or any of that - but know that I've been honored and grounded to share the past decade with you and your fellow readers.

My heart with each of you.

Be well, be loved, and be kind.

Talk soon.

-Steven

p.s. The best thing I saw all week was this photo I took of my favorite building, spinning bright: https://glass.photo/inkandfeet/5scq38q1ISyMkrnZF9RCBN