A Stranger Who Enjoys Company

For some reason, despite all the things I’m grateful for, I woke up feeling why am I doing any of this? I’m missing something but I don’t exactly know what. Until I found it. A safe space. A place where all of my problems seem miles away because they are. Literally. I’m in a town I don’t frequent often, sitting in a library I’ve hardly visited. Everyone is a stranger, a break from social pressure that feels wrong.

The unfamiliarity is oddly comforting. Writing here made me realize something surprising; sometimes it’s nice to feel like a stranger.

Because maybe deep down, being hard on yourself is a reflection of your struggle to live up to an image that others have etched in stone about you. To be a stranger in an unfamiliar place means there are no expectations. Though it seems strange, you can stop being self-conscious and direct your energy towards respecting your heart, which is tired of being silenced.

Yet don't forget the importance of human connection. The real illusion is this belief that we don’t have time to enjoy each other's company.

The other day I was in a Starbucks and the atmosphere broke my heart. I remember as a kid when you went to a coffee shop it was bustling with neighbors chatting, a conduit of connection. Now in the busy modern work life, so many people are grab-and-go customers, ordering their refreshers on the app and then rushing to get to the next task on their to-do list, only to forget in moments that they were even at a coffee shop.

What if we are those customers who order life in a quick grab-and-go fashion? What if we’ve gotten too good at the rush of modern life that we forgot community exists? We don’t have time to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee, or hang out with friends, or write a blog post, or arrange plans with a loved one.

We’re just so damn busy. And if we challenge that narrative, we get labeled as lazy. But if we want to work harder at something we love, we get labeled as crazy.

We just need an escape from time to time. So, try a new library or cafe, try new activities and meet new people. You’ll come back to appreciating what you got. And if the world hates you for wanting to escape, let it be. Don’t be so consumed living the perfect life, that you don’t have a second to soak in the moment.