Ryan Brinson

My Place In It Ryan Brinson

So much of this past year has felt as if the bows and strings of who I am have been pulled taut and into new chords. Same string, new ways of playing it. "My Place In It" reflects that almost gibbous feeling I haven't been able to evade, the feeling of shifting, of trying to find where I'm meant to land. Almost in the same way plate tectonics causes the earth to slide around like dominoes shuffled on a tabletop, I've felt the pieces of me shifting and realigning as well. On some level, I knew this would be a season of rediscovery. Rediscovering myself apart from the online magazine I created and ran for eight years, rediscovering my body after years of neglecting it, and rediscovering who I am as a friend, partner, coworker, brother, son, cousin, nephew, and human person navigating the world. This year, it wasn't just the streets of Manhattan I was navigating, it was actually the world. I traveled more than I ever have in my life and it's been fulfilling and challenging and testing and mesmerizing in ways I couldn't have known. From the bays in Singapore to the deserts of Israel, from sunny days in Los Angeles to thunderstorm alley in Texas, I've been many places. "My Place In It" seemed an all the more appropriate metaphor for a man who's mid-30s and mid-pivot. It's a misconception that big changes are relegated to those emerging from college or turning 30 or having a baby or retiring. Big changes are always happening in us but there's an adventure in finding our way and our place in it.