To: 2016
CC: 2017

Dear A Year Unlike Any Other,

I hope this goodbye note finds you in good health. A disclaimer: this is by no means comprehensive.

We are 51 minutes into the new year and I am not at a party.
Like most days in 2016, I am in my room; laptop tucked comfortably on the hill that is my thighs.

51 minutes into 2016 I was sitting in a balcony with my best friend.

We are 61 minutes into the new year and these transitions are but human constructs.
The planet is exactly where it was 61 minutes into last year.
Physically, we are exactly where we are this time last year.
And the transitions within ourselves are as real as us.

A list.

From the archives of the 366 days that led to 115 minutes ago.

1. Introspection as a result of the process of experiencing the world.
2. The world outside has always felt like a dream (nightmare?) but it feels more tangible than ever, in all its unrealities.
3. Entering college—a bubble—hoping to learn more about the world that I end up sheltered from as I create my own space in the middle of nowhere.
4. Searching for spaces even as they pop at the speed with which dominos fall.
5. Despising people like I did in grade seven, hereby creating a void; only to fill it the following day with everybody I can stand for longer than a conversation about the weather.
6. Never have I felt closer to my parents.
7. The self-improvement journey didn’t see enough progress. Neither did my resolution to read more. A subtle connection, perhaps.
8. Longing.
9. How do I help
a. people I have never known?
b. those I do know?
c. myself?
10. How do you know?
11. How do you know anything at all?

(I do however know that I’m grateful to you.)

A request.
2017, don’t encourage me to pick one of many. Lead me, instead, to interpreting the meaning of each.
I look forward to working with you.

Warm regards,

By Aditi S., 19, India