Authentically You / by Nick Burrows

You never walk alone, you never have and you never will. You walk with everyone you have ever met and anyone you have ever cared about. Those people that have cared about you, their feelings, at least the ones they expressed, live inside your head. The simulation you invent of these people. We all assume our version of our friends and family is similar to what they are really like. Memories become the home of all friends and loved ones. For us they exist there stronger than they may in real life. It’s time to celebrate these memories. Take these people with you wherever you venture. Around the world you might go again and again. Show them what they have been a part of, tell them when you return, tell them exactly how important they were in your journey. Those people each play a unique role in your head when you do anything especially traveling because often you are left alone with those memories coupled with your own thoughts. So whenever you come back, express that love for their memory make new memories together. Even if they mean something in only the smallest capacity that is enough to share with them how they were a part of you for however long. Giving everyone a chance to leave you with the best version of themselves. This of course is a two way street. Giving others a genuine version of yourself to hold onto could play an important part in another’s life. You may never know if you do or did play a crucial role in someone else's story. All anyone can do is put the best version of themselves into the world and never feel guilty about being authentically you. If that authentic self is not causing harm or sadness then that would be a great memory for someone else to have don’t you think?