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Personal Essay
Navigating Change
Three key life principles I have learned moving across five countries.
Wherever you go there is ‘a little bit of this’ and a ‘little bit of that’.
Wherever you go and see darkness there is a way to find light.
Wherever you go and see beauty, you will notice that pain is there too.
Wherever you go, you’ll see what you can perceive, and someone else may see it differently.
Within the first two decades of my life, I had lived in five countries. In addition, my home life was strongly shaped by my family’s Iranian background, adding a layer of complexity to my identity when moving across Europe and North America.
The way I have come to exist in the world, understand and analyze it, is deeply rooted in my life until now. For us all, our experiences and what we learn shape the lens through which we see the world, our environment, and ourselves. No two of us exist in the same way; therefore, we do not see life as it is and ‘should’ be in the same way.
The more time passes I come to recognize better how my constant movement impacted my visions of life and the world. The exposure and often ‘pressure’ to assimilate into a new culture, way of life, and thinking, gave me access to a plethora of different ways of being and understanding. I was able to…
