Hey, welcome to Radiohead Space.
It's Dora.
So I spent my most recent birthday in my favorite forest.
No plans, no celebration dinner waiting for me.
Just me, the trees, and the sound of my footsteps on the ground.
I was walking slowly, letting myself wander, noticing how the light moved through the branches.
And there's something about being in a forest that immediately shifts your nervous system.
The pace changes.
Your body softens.
And you remember that you belong to something much older than your to-do list.
As I walked, I found myself thinking about the trees as ancestors.
Some of them had clearly been there long before me.
Some would still be there long after.
And then a question surfaced.
Have I been a good ancestor?
Not in terms of like legacy or achievement, but in the everyday sense.
How am I spending my time while I'm here?
And that question stopped me.
I began reflecting on the last 33 years of my life,
the choices I remember, the seasons I moved through, the ways in which I 've grown, stumbled, learned, and tried again.