dear self,

• stop boxing people into the limited depictions of what short list of People Types you have accumulated in your brain.
• navigate socially-constructed viewpoints and expectations as exactly what they are - socially-constructed. this means GRAIN OF SOCIETAL SALT.
• learn to laugh things away, but like...genuinely. ugh "authentic is the most inauthentic word" rings true.
• be okay with not being ultimately right. let go of the squeezy feeling from "losing" to "better" people.
• be careful with normative statements and big words, even if the latter describes exactly what you mean. don't be afraid of absolutes and "shoulds" in an all-encompassing way; just be careful, is all.
• apologize quickly but genuinely - remember that genuineness will enact change.
• wonder more about where that sense of wonder went - and when? - back when you used to be amazed at the wonderfulness of people and let their honesty, creativity, good intentions blow your mind away and shape your world to be a little more multi-dimensional than before. come on, you used to be a lot more convinceable. where did that go?
• don't buy into "cynicism is inevitable." The World and its Goodness don't have to be categorized separately.
• read the Bible more. pray more. the end.