If You’ve Ever Felt Like You Don’t Belong In The ‘Real World,’ Read This

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What does the inside of your head look like?

I ask because it seems as though so many people silently and complacently work through full-time jobs, putting in 40 hours a week and living for the weekend without a second thought. You’ve probably reasoned with yourself for years that security and a steady stream of income guarantees long-term stability. You have student loans and leases and personal expenses to pay — deodorant is a staple, after all.

But let me ask you a follow-up question: have you ever felt itchy beyond what a quick scratch could appease? Have you ever simultaneously lived in five different universes in your mind while your feet were firmly planted on an office rug? Have you longed for dirt roads at sunset, a blanket of stars stretching on and on in the Mojave Desert, a vineyard in Tuscany, sailboats near the rocky New England coastline, and scarlet leaves falling on well-worn hiking boots?

Have you mapped out entire routes in your mind for road trips you may never take? Do you imagine each stop along the way? Does the red label on glass Coke bottles make you reminisce about a time period you’ve never experienced? Does the smell of the Earth after a rainfall make you melancholy and reflective? And does something inside of your shy, reserved nature push you alarmingly toward the microphone on Karaoke Night, because there are deep and fragmented parts of yourself that you wish you could share with the world, despite your fear of criticism and rejection?

Do you secretly love books that make you cry? Do you visit art galleries and buy tickets to indie flicks on your own? Would you drive 4 hours in a day to go hiking at a nature reserve because you saw a painting of it that you fell in love with? Would you spend a week in total solitude at a monastery situated on the Pacific Ocean? Do you drive aimlessly, with no destination, along rivers on hot summer days just to blast your music with the top down? Do you have a playlist for that drive and for every other occasion?

Are you constantly caught between what your logic tells you and what your heart longs for, far away from the monotonous day-to-day of a life that keeps you from truly moving forward?

If you can relate to any of these things, know that you’re more complex and have a more wild and beautiful soul than you’ll ever fully understand. You are not easily satisfied or content with the mundane. You crave adventure, experience, emotional connection and a thorough understanding of yourself and life. You are not alone or strange because you possess the rare qualities of depth and vision that many other people don’t.

Your vision and intuition are captivating, and your mind is a fascinating place I wouldn’t mind getting lost in for a while.