I'm tired.

My name is Anna Ernst, I am 26 years old, I am a first-year seminarian at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, I am a white cisgendered heterosexual non-Native American citizen, and I am tired.

I am tired of cruel, hateful discrimination against those who identify outside of the gender binary or of a sexual orientation other than heterosexual, particularly in Arizona in the United States of America, in Russia, in Uganda, and in Zimbabwe.

I am tired of hearing about the student loan debt that weighs down my friends and loved ones after they graduate, and about the medical debt that can weigh down those of any age.

I am tired of war, of chemical gases being waged as destructive weapons on humans and the environment, of suicide bombers, of terrorism.

I am tired of not talking about our mental health and well-being, about how it really is a factor that affects our life every day. I am tired of not hearing that seeking help for yourself is courageous, as is encouraging others to seek help. I am tired of us not keeping an eye on each other.

I am tired. But right now, I am awake.

I am awake, yet all these realities of life and more make me so tired.

While I'm awake, I'm transforming these realities, one step at a time.

There are still 12 stories to be written about 2010-2013. Someday they will come out.