A morbid beginning, but I think from a young age, I learned what death meant; I learned how much our lives were structured around this moment; I learned that you needed people, I learned the importance of family, I learned the feeling of loving and giving, hurting and not receiving, but also the power of being the example you wanted. I know life gets busy, I know showing up at family events and helping out feels like you give more than you get in return, and I know being there feels useless at times...

One of my girlfriends came over and posed a question she had read from her daily scroll of Instagram: "What would you pursue without social media?"

As social media has been proven to be one of the top business tools and career options, it has become more pressuring to rely on beyond just popularity, connecting with others, and posting your daily life.

But, sometimes I wonder if it takes away more than it adds to our life in terms of career opportunities.

Removing myself from everything I built, always knew, and defined myself as, to live abroad, doing something I've never done, taught me a few things that has made me more grounded than I've ever been.

They are things that I really wish everyone gets a chance to realize in this lifetime. Because life is too short, and too long.

Living abroad where all the people are of one culture, who have an established country, and a cohesive civilization between the same borders, people often don't understand nor even fathom, what it is like to not have a country of your own.

It's like: always feeling like a stranger in the country you were born in.
It's like: getting excited at the sight of a familiar skin tone when you're in public.
It's like: your heart breathing fresh air when you hear the same tongue at the most unexpected times--which is--most times.

Whether this is a letter to myself or to all the friends I've seen grow up around me, I wanted to send my wishes, as we take on different paths and go different ways, of the things I hope you'd at least have the chance to experience in your 20s. 20s because this is the best time to build ourselves, to find ourselves, so we can fall into ourselves fully in our 30s. And even if our timelines don't align, that having these experiences will still be worthwhile.

So, to my dearest 20 somethings, these are the things I would wish for you.

"Nothing lasts forever."

Not the good, nor the bad, and I absolutely know that.

And so the most beautiful thing, is being awake and alive enough to know that although I don’t know how long it’ll last, I know very well, with all my being, that in this very moment, I am not short of anything.