Yet Untitled 175 - Person in Progress

Writing my way past year end anxiety

Dearest Yet Untitler

The year is ending, but you and I will continue beyond it, even after it ends. In that respect, you and I are - whether we know it or not - People in Progress (PIPs).

I like being a Person in Progress. Rather - I like reminding myself that I am one. It helps me look beyond the starts and stops that I’m conditioned to regard as points of reference; worse still - as the building blocks of my identity.

Did I end the year well? Will I make a good start next year?

Reminding myself that I am a Person in Progress stops me from getting entangled in questions like these. It helps me take a deep breath and simply put one foot in front of the other, like little Ananya and Aahana in the video below.

What a thrill they used to get from merely walking! Watching them experience such delight in their first steps delighted me afresh.

Dearest Yet Untitler, have you and I forgotten the delight that’s to be found in simply moving?

In remembering that I am a PIP, I felt my chest ease; as if a tightened spring had unwound behind my eyes. Did my words provide you the same ease, dearest YUer? If they did, then - hallelujah! They’ve fulfilled their purpose 🥳.

As a PIP, the year’s end feels more palatable. Rather than coming to a halt, it feels like I’m taking my foot off the accelerator to give my pistons some respite while still continuing to cruise forward.

It’s a good feeling.

I roll down my metaphorical windows and slide back my metaphorical sunroof while feeling the metaphorical wind on my real face as I write and imagine.

My brother Uday Nath, road tripping in Europe in the 90s, c. 1994

I think our hearts understand the concept of being a Person in Progress better than our minds do. All my heart knows is how to keep going. I should listen to it more.

(I cannot write that paragraph without evoking this song!)

Natural History Museum, London, c 2023

Yet Untitled will continue as a Newsletter in Progress as it always has. I’m excited about what it promises to become, just as I’m excited about where my Progress will lead me. Dearest Yet Untitler, I’m excited about where we’re headed together, you and I. Are you? If yes, I want to hear about it. Hit me up you ol’ installment junkie you!

I will be in some exciting places in the coming weeks. I will have my camera. I will have my words. Expect holiday dispatches full of photos!

Happy holidays dearest YUer. Thanks, always, for listening.

Lots of love

V

P.S. The title of this installment is inspired by the title of a wonderful screenplay written by a lovely Yet Untitler, one that I hope you all will see translated as a film on a screen near you very soon!