It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything on a blog site. This is the third blog I’ve started, but the previous two were very different. It was in a different time, a different season of life, a different me. But, who am I? I’ve been trying to figure that out for the past two and a half decades and I still don’t know. But, that’s okay because for once I’m not scared to find out. I was terrified to find myself because maybe I was a bad person or someone that was completely fake. Who knows, maybe that’s still a possibility, but I don’t care. I would rather find out and know who I am rather than being too scared shitless and never knowing the answer. Regardless, here’s to the journey that everyone else in the world is on: figuring out who we are and what our purpose is.

“I am out with lanterns looking for myself.”

-Emily Dickinson

One thing that I absolutely love is literature. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think a thousand words can create a beautiful picture. The kind of imagery that comes alive in our minds only when we read the right combination of words. Even though literature is black text on a page, I believe it’s still subjective to anyone’s interpretation. The fact that anyone can read the same passage and feel something completely different from everyone else, it just goes to show that our inner minds are beautiful. A picture or a story can bring back a flood of memories or curiosities that shapes us into who we are. There is only one you in this world so why not be exactly you?

As an ode to my first love, that being literature, I think it would only be appropriate to title this blog after a quote from Emily Dickinson. “I am out with lanterns looking for myself,” is a direct correlation to what I want out of this blog. I want to find myself and know others. We are all lanterns trying to navigate this dark world. My encouragement is to shine bright. Don’t dim the light inside of you. You never know who’s path you’re lighting when they lose their way. Be bright and never let someone else extinguish that light.

I hope to see you again in future blog posts and maybe one day, our paths might cross. Until next time, my friend.

Love,
Iris