maybe I'll develop this more as these final weeks go on, but here and now I wanna write something while the emotions are high. I hope yall hear it
Listen. grief is normal. grief is, in fact, good. If you're feeling lost, or sad, or angry; if you feel like you gotta do something, make a plan, fight someone. If you feel like you gotta pull in, hide, go quiet. That's all grief. You're losing somethig genuinely good on october first, and your body is reacting to that and that is normal. Embrace it. Don't bottle it up, don't hide from it, look it in the face and let yourself act upon it. Be angry. Be reclusive. Be hurt. Be lost. Cry. Yell. Post. Be acquainted with grief.
In your mourning, ask yourself why: why do you feel this way? what are you going to miss? Why are you going to miss it? Make a list--mentally, literally, it doesn't matter--and drill down deeper into it. You'll miss the shitposts here--why? what part of them shines the most to you? You'll miss the community you found, built, participated in: why? what aspects radiate hope or joy or happiness or comfort? Feel your pain, and ask why it hurts the way it does. Then take those things--one thing, ten things, 20, 100, maybe a constantly growing list the further time moves away from this moment--take those things and hold them close and dear. Bask in what they mean to you. Dwell on them, remember them, cry over them, laugh over them, talk about them. That's gratitude. Be thankful, let sorrow twist together with joy for the two are a rope and that rope runs over a series of pulleys and those pulleys grant leverage.
The pulleys, friend, are death. Not in an "avoid them" sense (altho: pinch point, be careful) but in a representative sense. Death begets life. For one to live, something else must die and be transformed. Whether it's plant or it's meat, we require death to live: it's the force multiplier for our continued existence. Eggbug is dead, and our grief and joy wind through and around this death and in so doing it grants us power. When you hold the whys of your sorrow, you hold ideals to aspire to, hope to bring to new tables, a drive that can bolster other communities. Grief brings growth. Mourn, friends. Be angry. Be lost. Let it nourish you and change you
Grief begets gratefulness. Gratefulness begets growth. Do not leave this place hungry. Be full, be good, be light