My Place is Me

 I always found it crazy the thousands of lives one can live. We consume media and we see so many cultures, so many different places and ways of doing the same things. We all eat breakfast but some do it in a London flat while others stare at the Icelandic countryside. We all get dressed but someone in Florida wheres a bikini in December while I bundle up under layers in the Netherlands. I felt plagued and paralyzed by all the lives one could live. Thinking it was my job to experience them all, try them on, and see them first hand. However, I no longer feel this way. Maybe it is getting older and understanding my own identity better, but I realize those lives are not meant for me to live. While yes I love to learn about other cultures, ways of life, and places in the world I realize that just like them I was gifted a place. I was gifted a culture. I lost myself in the wonders of the world and others peoples stories for a while. I took from them what I wanted and I left the rest. Slowly I created and realized my own story. It became aparrent when talking to others around the world they equally cared to hear about my journey, my past, my little island in South Carolina. People were fascinated by growing up on an island and life in the United States. They were fascinated with how I ended up all the way over here. Only through losing myself in others stories was I able to see the beauty and strength within my own. I finally felt confident I had a place in this world. I had something to share that was my own heritage, history, and lifestyle. 

Only seeing different places do you realize the mundane reality of them all. At the end of the day every person lays their head on some pillow, eats something for a meal, does some task to fill their 24 hour day. So what makes a place special? It always was the people. Family, friends, community, is what makes a place worth sticking around for. Of course you could live every year trying to fit into someone else's routine but then you sacrifice your individuality and your community. You release the idea that you have a unique path and a destined fate that is all your own. You also lose the chance to show someone else your home. your history. your routine. The world is big and for a reason. It is filled with people that fill every crevice doing very different things in very different climates. I was placed in South Carolina. In a Southern Christian home. With a loud, crazy, and chaotic family. It wasn't by mistake. So yes I could live 100 different lives but thats simply not what I am meant to do. I was gifted this life and I choose to see the beauty in my own story because it is just as beautiful and worthy as the next.