It was a particularly busy evening; it had just hit us that we had a week left in our first block and the intimidating amount of work we had to complete by then. We were all sitting downstairs in the YHA, I had taken a break and gone to get a glass of water and when I returned to my spot at one of the tables in the reception a woman asked me what time it was. I couldn’t tell you how exactly we started talking only that we did, and that it wasn’t about the weather or any other type shallow conversation. As we sat there and talked I didn’t notice the minutes of the clock ticking by because of how interesting our conversation was.
As I we sat there she opened up to me about why she came to London and about some of the parts of her life she was struggling to deal with. Listening to her pouring out her story made me think about how I’ve been living my life lately and the decisions I’ve made in regards to my family, my friends, my spirituality, and what I see my life moving towards in the future.
Looking back it is interesting that as someone who is somewhat shy and reluctant to share that I found myself sharing some semi-private thoughts and emotions that I typically do not share with people I’ve only just met. But as we talked and I heard the struggles she was going through, it made me appreciate the place I am in my life right now and how precious every moment, every friend, every family member, and every experience I’m having is. A quote from Bob Dylan that “he not busy being born is busy dying” and if there was one thing I took away from the conversation it was that message.
It’s funny before leaving home I had never had a positive experience talking to a stranger in more than passing. During this first block however, I have talked to the man sitting, smoking a cigarette outside the hostel, the man carrying his luggage in the elevator, the homeless man walking in the park. I love it. I’ve met so many interesting people and I feel like every time I talk with someone new and unexpected I can feel who I am change. I’ve started to carry bits of them with me, the conversations that we have, the advice they’ve given me, the smile we shared when we parted ways. Sometimes I feel very heavy after talking to them, as if I have taken on a part of their burden, sometimes I feel very light as if maybe they have taken on a part of mine. But no matter what I love that I walk away and feel differently than I did before. It’s one of the most beautiful things about humanity; we can learn from each other in the most unexpected and wonderful ways.
