>>3789542Decade-long is a good way to put it. Least it's almost over, and things can only get better from here on out.
>next moveAlready made it, I suppose. After months of searching due to my field being hit extremely hard by the pandemic, I've finally gotten myself another job. Time will tell if it's the right thing for me, but it's a step forward and that's what matters.
As for what comes next... I still have no clue whatsoever. Being financially stable and living on my own again are cool in their own right, but they're more like stop-gaps. I've always struggled to even imagine my own future and I can't think of a time when I've ever had a goal that actually motivated me (besides stability and comfort, and those are somewhat nebulous terms), so the best thing would probably be to just take life one step at a time and hope that I'll find a clear enough path to take eventually.
>those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the futureEven beyond the loops, this still suits Homura very well, and if anything she takes this further. The lessons of the past and the fears of the present gave her a road to walk on, a road without which she was lost.
The actions that led to her becoming the devil in her own eyes were dedeply selfish, but they were primarily driven by two things: love for oneself and love for another. Without those things and without the sudden existential threat that QB began to pose, she would never have noticed the abyss that Madokami was plunging herself into, an abyss that Madokami herself either never noticed or (willingly or otherwise) ignored precisely because she had no love for herself. The ends rarely justify the means, but in taking away her powers, Homucifer gave Madoka something perhaps equally as important: a gentle, comforting future, and with it, the space needed to make peace with the past, understand the present, and above all else, love herself.
Perhaps one day, Madoka will return the favor. Only time will tell.
