On Being Wonderfully Different

I first moved to Canada at an unfortunate age. I came to Toronto at a transitional stage of a teenager. I tried to find myself, who I was, who I was not, who I wanted to become as an adult and boom! I found myself in the middle of the unknown land, unknown people, new identity.  All of a sudden me being a teenager and trying to find myself presented a whole new meaning. It was a brutal struggle and a battle but I got out of it in one piece, victorious. Thanks to many wonderful and kind people who helped me understand the world around me and to understand myself. So this post is about that point in my life.

I attended Lakeshore Collegiate on Kipling in Toronto. Immediately after enrolling I registered for ESL classes that I had to take. But it didn't take me long to figure out that since I had the freedom to choose my own classes I could finally dedicate my attention to arts and other wonderful things I enjoyed. I discovered that not only I was good at playing guitar but I could compose my own music! I took up keyboards. Not to mistake with keyboarding - typing, I studied how to play keyboards. I discovered that it was possible to play with two hands somewhat complicated pieces of music within two weeks if you study everyday! I took French, Visual Arts, and loads of history classes! I LOVED high school in Canada!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UUWkr4FUlo
Van Morrison, Days Like This

One day my keyboarding teacher, nota bene, Mr. Morrison (!!!) who heavily resembled Sir "Van" Morrison, decided for the entire class to take a test on feelings and music. We listened to many pieces of music of different origin and genre. We were supposed to mark a feeling to each piece of music. The next day we got our results. I watched as Mr. Morrison gave out the results to all the classmates. At the end he came to my desk and said, "and here is your answer sheet. You got them all wrong. Which is ok. I don't want you to worry about this. But you didn't get even close to the right answer. This just means that you feel differently." It has been 27 years since that class at Lakeshore Collegiate. I have grown to understand that that I do feel differently. I learnt to feel happy and proud of it. And I to celebrate and respect every person. We all are wonderfully different and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that!

Sketch for My Husband's Portrait, October 2017

So every time I get hurt, misunderstood, rejected, dejected, ignored or disrespected, my husband comes to me and with the softest voice he says, " they don't get that you are different, unique. They understand things in their own terms, however small or vague they are." It is good to hear these words. Really, they change my point of view and motivate me. They build me anew!
So the moral of this story is that it is incredible to be different. And you don't have to, you shouldn't have to change. You are not required to change to be understood and appreciated. You just need to find a person who does!!

Have a great week my friends!