Well, hello everyone. How are you all doing?

As a starting point for this space, that question from me to you is not at all unusual. This time, though, it is a little different.

Midcoast resident Heather D. Martin wants to know what’s on your mind; email her at heather@heatherdmartin.com.

This is the hello at the start of our goodbye.

The fiscal realities of our current climate mean changes for the paper. The time has come to say goodbye to “Mainewhile.”

In the spirit of doing my best by this odd little column I have come to truly love and cherish, I am going to use both of the weeks remaining to say goodbye to it. It is my indulgence – a sort of celebration and genuinely fond farewell.

Granted, I can already tell much of the conversation will be a variation on the theme of “thank you,” but I suppose that’s all right. “Thank you”s are important. They are worth our time.

I’ll confess, I won’t mind saying farewell to the feeling of a blank page and a ticking clock. Deadlines. Ugh. I never missed one, but sometimes there were tears.

But then, oh, wait. Shoot. I will miss that after all. Or, rather, I will miss the structure. Every week I have had the gift of a routine that required I pay attention, sort my thoughts, work out from the tangle what was at the center – and then sit down and get to work.

Unlike my stack of writing projects that are forever in revision, here there were expectations, rules and inflexible times on the clock. Every once in a while, I’d be so stuck I would think “to heck with it, maybe this is time to stop,” and then, like magic, my inbox would ping with a note from one of you asking a question, sharing a thought, sometimes disagreeing, and often just sharing your own experiences.

It never failed to work. I would read your message, and then sit back down and finish my work.

And that is part of what I owe this column – and all of you.

Thank you.

I have a lot more “thank you”s to give in the weeks coming up, but this one is really large and comes tied to a hope. Hmm, maybe more of a request.

Like a character in a sci-fi novel who attempts to get a message to their future self, I am trying to engrave upon my cerebellum the reality that no matter what is happening around in the world, no matter how chaotic or confusing, how worrisome or unsettling – the answer is community and the quickest route to it is speaking your truth.

OK, hang on. That sounds weird. I mean, cue the orchestra, right? Ew.

No, what I mean is, we spend so much of our lives attempting to shape-shift our presence to meet the societal need – finding a way to be just ourselves is a crazy, powerful thing. Scary, too.

I think we are all in for some turbulent times. The sort of times that fourth graders will read about 50 years from now in graphic novels that win awards. Bummer.

I haven’t found a way to change that. But! Here comes quantum physics (and Buddhism) reminding me that I do have the power to change how I react to it. I am the architect, not of my era, but of myself. Same goes for you.

So that is my hope and my request. To myself, and to all of you. Keep finding ways to be yourself. “Let your freak flag fly” as my bestie would say.

Show your joy, share your grief. Cultivate compassion. Disagree when that’s what is needed – but use words you can live with. Embody the change you want to see in the world.

Above all, know that even when you feel completely alone, your community is there, rooting for you.