Unfortunately, thin places, much like everything else, do not and cannot last forever. In this way, these intoxicating, aura-filled hotbeds are indistinguishable from any other place we could image. What is unique though, is the degree to which their absence is felt. Thin places, unlike their mundane counterparts leave a gaping hole that can’t be filled . The disappearance of a thin place is weighty, and gut-wrenching. That reading nook being removed feels like the loss of a friend. Realizing our favorite hike being has been overrun by those seeking social media fodder is a moment we won’t forget. Visiting a franchised version of a local restaurant and experiencing first hand the sterile, board-room-approved, lack of atmosphere is something that singes our memory and makes us sick.

And while it’s often the case that we try to resist this series of unfortunate events, I think in this instance, resistance is actually futile and a thin place thickening is apart of the natural order of things. Regardless of how tightly we keep a secret, impose strict visitation rules and park occupancy limits, or petition that this place remains in its current, state eventually the qualities which make a place thick corrode the fabric of the thin place we were hoping to preserve. Places that were once thin become thick, that’s the way of things—but thankfully, the situation isn’t as doomer-pilled or hopeless as I’ve made it sound.

When a thin place is on the dawn of thickening, the only thing left to do is to choose how we’ll react. While sometimes we feel that our choice needs to be the grim and doomed option of preservation, sometimes its clear that the thickness has won and the only thing left to do is appreciate the thin qualities that remain.

Regardless of the action we choose it’s important to remember that a place loosing its aura is affects its physical manifestation. We can keep the places we love as thin and pristine as we want so long as we cherish the memories we have of them.

What’s more, I kind of buried the lead, there is actually a third door we can take when faced with a place poised to be thickened, and its by far the most hope-filled option on the table.