In fact, I hope to see many of you at Burning Man this year, where I will again work with MAPS to provide volunteer "psychedelic emergency services." This will be my third year helping to organize MAPS' involvement at Burning Man, and I can't wait.

Brandy in the hills above Edinburgh, Scotland

Writing this, it's hard to remember why I've chosen to leave at all. Yet paradoxically, it's my experiences at MAPS that give me the courage to step into the unknown. MAPS has been a great place to learn about taking risks and coping with uncertainty. Nearly every project involves breaking new ground and challenging the status quo. Often there is a crossing of boundaries, a synthesis of seemingly disparate aspects of life - science and mysticism, bureaucracy and healing, work and play. With a mission as ambitious as re-envisioning society and its relationship to psychedelics, MAPS depends on continually imagining and enacting new possibilities.

So it is with this awareness, of the necessity of uncertainty and the value of dreaming, that I venture forth to seek the next phase in my own career and in my life. After four years at MAPS and eight in Sarasota, I'm excited and somewhat terrified about the changes ahead. To use a favorite MAPS analogy, it's like a psychedelic experience - staying with the anxiety, facing the void, to see what's on the other side. I'll let you know what I find out.

Thanks for everything,
Brandy

Brandy can still be reached at her MAPS address, brandy@maps.org.