Tomorrow I am finally going to share an album of photos from my volunteer year with L'Arche in India to my facebook page. Friends and family have asked me to see photographs, but I never really felt comfortable or motivated to share those moments until now. There was something so intimate, isolating, and challenging about last year, that I had found myself uncertain if I were willing to share the photos I had taken. I knew no one would ever understand the full experience behind the photographs, and it wasn't until now that I made peace with that.
We live much of our lives alone. At the end of the day no one will ever understand what it is like to be you—to see the world through your eyes, with your unique history and personality guiding your experience. Even when you share a full day with a family member, friend, or partner, you both might recount the day with very different perspectives. There are so many ways to connect and share with those around us, but our individualism is a unique kind of solitude that we will never be able to escape. This is simply part of being human and is a good thing most days. But there are going to be days or periods of life when you know no one will ever truly understand your point of view, and those times can feel incredibly lonely unless they are processed well. This is how I felt about my year in India until just recently. I was having a hard time, because even with the people I am closest to, I felt a distance when attempting to explain the challenging intricacies that the year held for me. But of course time moved on, and as the space grew to process, my outlook slowly changed. I gained a sincere appreciation for it all. I realized that as much as I could explain was good. And maybe someday I could write more, or share more, but really the wholeness of it all will never be for anyone else, but me. Maybe the wholeness of it all was never meant for anyone else, but me.
Check out tomorrow's post for a link to the album, and further reflection on the photographs.
Keep peace and keep creating,
Parker <3
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