Inspiration: Hiraeth

Click this photo to learn more about what people have to say on the subject through a Reddit feed because that's where this photo came from.

SO before today I never heard of the word hiraeth and if it wasn't for my good friend Tamar Levitt, founder of Calm (if you have never heard of this app or her go use the google) I would've never heard about this word until probably much later in life. I'm 24 as I write this and high school is not as distant a memory as it is for some people but also not yesterday like the class of 2020. It's in this weird time gap that I have a few friends from various stages in my life, but only a few solid friends that were there through my "cocoon years". There was this yearning that I had for siblings and God granted me plenty of them. I always felt lonely as a kid and friends helped me cope with that. But as all good stories, friendships, and ramen bowls do, they must come to an end. I've had friends that I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with and don't even know what they look like anymore. Friends have shaped my reality because I was a shy kid who was secretly on a hunt for "da one" and made friends along the way.

SO what does that have to do with Hiraeth?

Well, to be honest, every time I look back at my memories I see faces of people that don't exist anymore. The Jimmy I knew in the 6th grade is not the same Jimmy now. The girl that I was best friends with in the 7th grade turned out to be a bitch. My high school clique has dispersed into the unknown. Yet all these ghosts make up a place called home. We once shared beautiful melodies of laughter together and even if we don't sing them anymore, that memory still echoes. It's weird being 24, having met so many people in your life, yet able to count your friends on your hand. This may all seem like trivial growing up pains, but its still my reality. And for others, their reality might be the same.

We are told to grow up but are unaware of the true cost that no one really warns us about. They say that over time you grow apart and things change, but the gravity of the drifting and the changing isn't felt until it happens I guess. I just wish there was someone still there afterward to let you know the next step. Well through trial and error my one piece of advice that I could offer is this: live openly and with an acceptance to let things go.

Though this may be a word jumble, this is such a beautiful word that I am so happy has been added to my vocabulary. I hope you too make some beautiful word vomit on this hump day and I hope to see ya again tomorrow!