This is the week of the American Holiday Thanksgiving. For the first time in my 27 years of life, I’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving away from my nuclear and extended family. Not only will I be away from home, I will be in another country. For many expats or individuals living away from home, this is probably a bygone conclusion of sentimentality, but for me it marks a milestone.
For some, the act of stepping out from beneath the protective wings of parents manifests itself as moving on or moving out without their blessing or even pursuing careers or vocations with or without parental support. For me, stepping out from parental covering involved marriage and an international move.
Many people fantasize about the idea of leaving everything behind and starting again- with a fresh slate, where no one knows your name. It provides you an opportunity to recreate your persona and become a new and improved “better” you. But many people also do not fully realize or act upon these fantasies and trade day dreams for a life of stability, comfort, and routine. People also don’t realize that without dealing with the emotional baggage they may be dragging around, there is no way to reinvent something with no intrinsic ability to be overwritten. You can’t overwrite a scar. You can try, but the texture will be different. You can’t overwrite an open, festering wound. You can try, but it will look different. You need to address the hurts and heal rightly so that greater things can come.
This process of reinvention, independence, and growth is something I’m sure no one fully gets used to. Who gets used to change? By its very definition, change is something that constantly transforms or becomes different. As I am going through this transformation, becoming a better me, I am just thankful for the people by my side and the freedom to be fully and unapologetically myself.
a day in the life 