Who We Are

We are all different. There are things I like that you don’t. The music I listen to may be foreign to you. The way I talk, or the phrases I use, may drive you up the wall of your igloo. My sense of humour might not be your cup of tea, but I don’t drink tea, so that would be the second thing in this sentence we disagree on – the first being my humour.

I’m downright hilarious. Recognize.

Yet despite all of our differences, you keep coming back to my blog to read more. Why? I have a few guesses, but I’m not cocky enough to say that I brighten your day so I’ll just wait for you to tell me that in the comments section, at which point I will try and act surprised. 

I think there is a lot of fear in the world today and a lot of it stems from people, and leaders, being afraid of those who are not like them. Granted, there are some absolutely disgusting and callous people in this world who do strike fear in the rest of us.

But not everyone who is different, should be feared. If I were afraid of everyone that was different than me, I’d have about two friends and no one to have a conversation with because those two friends would be imaginary.

I firmly believe the person I am is just a combination of everyone I’ve ever met, as well as the experiences I’ve had since I entered this world.

Why are many of us so much like our parents, or our siblings? Well, genetics. Also, I’ve spent so many hours of my life, maybe too many, with my family. Just like you probably have. Of course we’re going to be similar.

That being said, my sister and I are from two separate planets sometimes. 

If you’re not from Canada, you might not be familiar with the name, Ron MacLean. He is the host of Hockey Night in Canada. To the Americans reading this, that is our version of Football Night in America except you copied us, and ours is much better.

Anyways, last year I was reading a book he wrote and something he said really stood out to me. I made a note of it in my phone and will share it with you now.

“Life really is about collecting people you like to be around, and when you come across them, you don’t take them for granted. If you want them to remain in your life, you’ve got to make an effort to keep them in your life.”  

I don’t know if I’ve ever read something so accurate before.

That quote always makes me think about the friends I’ve made throughout my life and how a lot of those friendships no longer exist. I don’t say that in a sad context, it’s just the way life goes.

Heck, my best friend in kindergarten – a.k.a the guy I always sat next to on the carpet – was merely just another person in my class by the time we reached Grade 2.

I’ve gone through stretches in my life where it was unimaginable to me that I wouldn’t be close friends with some people forever, and then slowly but surely, we drifted apart.

It’s no one’s fault. Our purpose in each other’s life might have been fulfilled already.

Or some other logical reason.

That’s another thing I believe in – we’re all in someone’s life for a reason. We learn something new from everyone we encounter even if we don’t know what it is.

I remember going away to university for first year and coming back and one of my “home friends” told me I had changed. (Might’ve been Chris. Probably was.). Not for the worse, but I was different. And I knew I was different.

I had been put in a new situation for eight months with people who I had never met before. I learned so much about myself that year and these people were responsible for teaching me most of it.

That’s all life is. A carousel ride that puts us in someone’s life for a certain period of time before moving on to impact someone else’s. But if we’re lucky, we find friends that stick around when the carousel starts moving again.

I have a small cast of friends who I talk to on a regular basis and the best thing about it is the conversations are always so easy. There are some people that I just click with, where we can say absolutely anything and it’ll be okay.

I was in a conversation with a friend last night for about an hour and we probably disagreed on just about everything each other said, but it was fine, and fun, and normal. I think. That’s just the nature of our friendship.

In terms of the blogosphere, I have come across some blogs where, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think that I was the author. It’s crazy for me to see someone think, write, and have the exact same sense of humour as I do, all while being from another country.

Quick Story:

There are friends of mine with which I’m convinced I share a telepathic wavelength. (Not to mention my mother. We’re on the same page all the time). They know what I’m going to do or say, before I do.

A couple of years ago, I was with some friends and one of them asked me and another guy: “Are you two taking the subway?

Without looking at each other, we both said, “Eat fresh” at the exact same time. Never mind answering the question. We both made a reference to Subway’s slogan, instead. It was great.

Almost everyone I meet reminds me of someone else that I’ve already met. It’s not because they’re unoriginal, it’s because they carry with them characteristics that remind me of someone else. So when I’m getting to know a person, that helps me put the initial pieces together.

People are puzzles, y’all. 

There are people in this world we have not met yet, but will have an impact on our life. That is equally intriguing and terrifying to me.

Mainly because I listen to a couple of song lyrics too much that tell me “when you change too much, you lose yourself” and “time is never time at all, you can never ever leave, without leaving a piece of youth”.

Prizes to whoever can name those songs.

If I were to get cheesy and cliche for a moment, I’d say that opposites attract (both in relationships & friendships) because both individuals give each other something they didn’t have before. It’s like making a trade in Monopoly.

You never know who you’re going to meet in this life. You never know when, or how, either. But when people enter your life, you get to decide how long they stay. That may sound incredibly cruel, but we’ve all made that decision before, even if we didn’t realize it.

We are all different, yet exactly the same.

That is who we are.

Most of us, anyway.