Affirmation #30
You Can Write Through It
Words as a path through chaos
First, you write for yourself always, to make sense of experience and the world around you. Our stories, our books, our films are how we cope with the random trauma-inducing chaos of life as it plays. — Bruce Springsteen
At 7:00pm on December 5th, 2021, I crossed the border into Tijuana with nothing more than a backpack and the vague outline of a plan. I had two changes of clothes, toiletries, several empty notebooks, and a clunky ASUS laptop that I would almost immediately become dependent on in ways that I couldn’t yet appreciate.
I had no goal except to wander. My only plan was: Cross the border, call an Uber, get to my hotel, figure it out. I repeated that mantra as I walked the anxious path to security. The sun was already down.
Cross border, call Uber. Cross and call, I chanted. Cross and call. Simple. I continued my chant until I got to the other side, where my phone signal promptly died.
I hadn’t planned for that.
Suddenly I was stuck on a dark street in northern Tijuana, surrounded by strangers. I couldn’t make sense of the bustle, and had no clue how to ask. It wasn’t quite a crisis? I was sure that many people knew English, but I didn’t know who. The uncertainty…
