I consider myself an
adventurer. I am proud of that fact. I don't mean I go climbing
mountains and jumping off cliffs or anything extraordinary like that,
rather that I am always keen to try new things, see new places, and
meet new people. As you can imagine, and hopefully know first hand,
going about your time on this earth in such a way makes for a rather
beautiful life. The problem, if you'll pardon me referring to it as
such, is that one can never truly be whole when living this kind of
life. I refer to this as my patchwork heart. I believe that a great
many of us have this same delightfully dazzling condition, painful
though it may on occasion be.
The best explanation I
can give you for this follows. We
all go through life giving out little pieces of our hearts to the
people we love and meet along the way, and we can only hope to get
enough pieces back to make us whole. Our patchwork hearts are what
make us beautiful and they will beat forever through the people on
whom we have had a profound impact during our time here. In this way,
we should all know that no one is ever lost so long as they loved and
were loved. But it still hurts and it is surely OK to cry and to feel
it. Whether that be because someone who holds a piece of our heart
has died, or just because the pieces of our hearts are spread out
across the globe. Missing people or animals, and even places, makes
us who we are. We are never alone while we have our little patchwork
hearts, ever growing and ever beating at our core.
I
read recently a very clear and concise definition of this, far less
complicated than my theory. It said simply: “You will never be
completely at home again. Because part of your heart will always be
elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and
knowing people in more than one place.” I am not entirely sure who
put it so eloquently, but they have my respect. I wish that I could
have found those words my own self.
As
many of you will know, I chose to uproot and see what was happening
on the opposite side of the world. That was a big step, but I feel
that all my previous steps had been leading to it. I changed schools
for sixth form, I went away to uni, I went travelling. All of those
experiences lead me to meet new people and find new places, and my
little heart became increasingly colourful in only a few years. For a
long time I have felt that I am not whole. That is no bad thing at
all, but it can feel undeniably bittersweet more than once in a
while.
Throughout
my life I have passed little pieces of my heart to so many people,
and will always continue to do so, though I do sometimes wonder if
perhaps the biggest pieces are mostly shared by now. Fortunately I
believe that I do have more than enough pieces to keep my heart
ticking over, offered to me by many wonderful people, places, and
animals.
Finally
I suppose all that remains for me to say is that I hope you will all
live your lives in this way for as long as you have air in your
lungs. You are needed. The more places you go and the more souls you
meet, the luckier this world will be. It's ok to stand out and it is
so very perfect to be who you are. There's no one else can do that,
it's your duty to let the world have wonderful you.
Thank
you for being a part of my patchwork heart.
Comments
Post a Comment