There's a bit of me in everyone, and a bit of everyone in me
Over these past 25 years, and especially in the last few months, I have realised something beautiful: we are all so different, and yet I somehow find familiar threads in each of the people I have met.
When I step back and look at the larger picture, I see how each person I connect with becomes a mirror to some part of me, an aspiration we share, a similar way of seeing the world, a common interest or behaviour. That realisation feels strangely beautiful. It’s like I’m discovering parts of myself through other people’s eyes.
Studying abroad has shown me just how vast the world really is. The campus shifts, courses change, semesters turn over, and with each change comes new people. I’m constantly meeting individuals I would never have crossed paths with otherwise, not just people from different countries, but people from my own country whose upbringing was so different from mine it’s like we grew up in entirely different worlds.
- • Someone who worked at Tomorrowland! It sounds like a dream until you hear what it actually was: cooking fries and serving beer to drunk people from 5 AM to 9 PM. “ It made me question my life’s purpose” were my friend’s words. That conversation shook something in me. It made me see how we romanticise certain things and fail to comprehend the unseen weight behind experiences we glamorise from the outside.
- • A friend who runs over 20 kilometres like it’s nothing. Running has always been aspirational for me. I am not particularly good at it, so being surrounded by people who do it so naturally feels inspiring in a way that’s hard to explain.
- • A senior whose husband traveled with her to help her settle in. Seeing a wife study after marriage, and a husband being so supportive, it was deeply moving, especially coming from a culture where that’s not always the norm. Yes, we talk about supportive partnerships, but rarely do we see it up close!
- • People navigate all sorts of relationships, across different religions, different expectations, different time zones with parents who are genuinely supportive of their choices and parents who are not so.
- • Someone who took a week off, loaded his bike onto a boat, sailed to an island, and spent the week riding. Someone who left their high paying jobs to work for greater meaning. That kind of passion, that commitment to what you love, stays with you.
What strikes me most is this: everyone is different, carrying their own universe, their own logic, their own way of loving and coping and dreaming. But there’s always something that connects us. And there’s always something to learn.
All it takes is stepping out and speaking to somebody. In those conversations, you discover so many things, about yourself, about them, about the world. That’s where everything opens up!
