Katie Thompson

I’ve found comfort in my own company for as long as I could remember. It wasn’t always that way though.

I would spend hours by myself as a young child. I really loved to read. I loved to create. I loved to explore and write and do all of the things that you don’t necessarily need anyone else for.

That was the thing, I think. I didn’t need anyone else.

And that is weird to people. To not care to fit in. It goes against the herd, our survival instinct. Something is clearly wrong with me if I am okay being singled out, no?

On the contrary. In fact, it goes against my own survival instinct to blend in with the group. Any time I’ve tried has felt suffocating. What if the group is wrong, or I don’t agree? What if the herd goes off a cliff? Even at a young age I would feel the urge to question everything that didn’t feel right to me.

Fo a time I did listen to other people who insisted I needed to fit in, to adjust to “the way things are.” They would mindlessly adhere to seemingly inconsequential societal norms as if it were the same as breathing and just as easily they would chastise me for being different. I could only hold my breath for so long, though. Eventually I needed to breathe on my own again.

Through all of this I’ve realized that it is actually those who unhealthily seek themselves in other people, labels, trends, vacuous identities and groups that are grasping to the edge of meaning and purpose. They lash out at those that are different because we threaten their very existence. They question their own choices, their own identities upon seeing someone else choose freely for themselves, because they are unable to do the same. I’m convinced this is where most hate stems from.

I don’t seek myself in ways others do. Depth cannot be found by staying on the surface but too many of us are too scared to dive into the ocean of discovery that is self.

Don’t be afraid to dive in to your own ocean. Discover your own treasures, shipwrecks and channels. Lead by self exploration, and self admiration. May your compass stay true and remember that you already have everything you need. You have you.