2022 Marks a New Beginning
The year I begin my journey to storytelling
This year marks the 10th year I moved to Taiwan from Los Angeles. Time flies! People say that each person will probably meet around 2000 people in a life time. I was extremely lucky to be able to meet more than 2000 people in the past 10 years. So, this year, I want to start writing about these people, their life stories and share with the world.
We only get to live once, but through other people, we can experience more in life than we ever could by ourselves. Let the journey begin!
I want to start with my roommate: Kinsley, a 24 years old young lady came from JiaYi. I met her in a co-living space in Taipei city, where we shared the living space with many others. Then we decided to move out together to get our own apartment. Despite the age difference between us (I’m 16 years older than her) we got along very well. In fact we had so much in common, I see the younger version of myself in her.
Growing up in a broken family, she constantly trying to proof herself that she can be better, she can make it out in the world. Had 2 step fathers, she was very unhappen as a child, her family has no faith in her, and couldn’t support her decisions in life. So, she has to seek approval elsewhere in the society, so she had more life experience than other young ladies in her age. Last night, we had a chat about life, and she teared up said: I just want my mom to see what a good person I have become and approve of me. I feel so unfortunate for her that at this age, she has to bear so much emotions on her own. But this didn’t stop her from trying her best to survive in the world, trying to be the best version of herself.
We live on top of a mountain away from the city where Kinsley has to work on weekdays. She has to commute for over an hour to work everyday, in Taiwan, that’s really far. She ride her motorbike to the MRT station in the morning, then take the MRT to work. I don’t think many young people can handle this kind of commute, hack, I can’t even handle it. She said to me, I want to have a room of my own, and a nice place to live, to show my mom that I can live a nice life, even if it means I need to wake up much earlier and come home much later. I’m not sure if this is the right type of motivation, but if this is what keeps her going, then so be it.
Each of us all have a family we came from and some how shaped us in the way we view life. I have learned through my years living in this world that it doesn’t matter where we came from, it’s the part of us that we can’t never change. But I does matter what we decide to do in the future, and not let our past prevent us from moving forward. It’s because the past, that we are who we are today, but it doesn’t define who we are going to be tomorrow. We all get lost along the way of life, fall into the emotional needs of needing someone else or something else to fulfil ourselves. As time goes on, and we learn to appreciate ourselves and appreciate where we came from.
