Photo-a-Day | Lauren Erwin (Patreon)

The world lost an amazing soul yesterday. I'm not sure how to feel about it. I wonder how this year will end and how 2021 will begin and end. This year has brought us all so much turmoil, anxiety, emotions, devastation... I am holding strong to the thought that we will come out wiser and kinder on the other side. But I am wondering if I am being a little too hopeful.

How do you feels when your friends remain quiet when they need to shout? How do you respond when your family doesn't understanding why you're upset about the state of the world? How do we all come to a mutual understanding while still respecting and honoring each human life that is deserving of rights, love, care, and acceptance?

How did we get here, and how do we not ever go back, but move forward? 

I'm sitting in a cabin up in the Smokey Mountains while my mom makes brunch as I write this. We are having a family getaway together for the weekend. As much as I want to escape to the woods and forget the world, I can't forget the place we are in. I can't forget everything I have seen and heard this year.

I think we all need to sit down in time-out and think about what we have done and how we can improve the situation, our own mental and physical health, as well as the world's.

It's just a thought.
___
Photography by Lauren Erwin
Georgia 2020