Well, here we go.

How shall I start?

I am, in the simplest terms, a 23 years old Hispanic woman who is currently enrolled as a graduate student at a university in my city. The goal is to earn that beautiful Masters of Arts degree in English. I am, in the most complex terms, a 23 year old Hispanic woman who can’t speak Spanish, but loves to sing in Spanish. I drink Starbucks religiously and attempt to do yoga everyday when I wake up. I listen to indie music while I write and read, but listen to 80s music when I really want my ass to get jiggy with it. I’m overly dramatic and can talk for hours on end about topics that I am passionate about, but I also need personal space and quiet time in order to contemplate the next dramatic narrative that is going to come out my mouth. I cry easily when I am scared, happy, excited, nervous, sad or even hungry. I cry, it is what I do. I am a crier. I spend my money recklessly at times, but this is only at certain times in my life. These certain times are when I go to Target or Barnes & Noble. I am a Hispanic woman who is not a cliché at all. You see, I am complex. The same as every single person in this world. We are all just differently complex with certain aspects that can give us a simple façade. A simple façade is very easy to live behind. The difficult part is facing the complexity of our own mind, ideas, beliefs, feelings and identity. I wish it was as simple as I am a straight, Hispanic woman who is studying at a great university. However, I am far from being as simple as that sounds. I have naturally tanned skin that I was born with, but I can’t have a single conversation in freaking Spanish. I love my culture, but I can’t confidently say I understand the origins and history of my own culture. I am forever standing in binaries and trying to understand my own identity. I am passionate and my mind is forever expanding and stretching across borders that I never thought I would care to cross. These are the outlining borders of politics, sexuality, religion, personal values and beliefs. I become more and more complex as I age and I become lost and confused in the tidal waves of popular opinions. I challenge myself to speak and fight for things I believe in while reclaiming and rediscovering my complex self-identity, which can be scary but also exhilarating. That is why I am sitting here and working on this blog. If I am correct, I have been planning to write this blog for exactly one year. I could be wrong though. I want to share my experiences and path on a journey of self-discovery and reclaiming my identity as I pick up the pieces of what I am made of. This journey is scary and sharing my own beliefs and thoughts can make me vulnerable. But I also believe I can gain strength from this. I can gain strength by using my voice and sharing it with others and use that strength to stand up for what I believe in. I believe this would bring me so much happiness.
Ultimately, I am on a path to make my heart smile. I believe the most genuine form of happiness comes from when your heart and soul feel just as enriched and happy as the smile on your face is. So I am going to embark on this journey, because I think my own true happiness will come from understanding who I am and what I am made of. I hope I can encourage others to do the same, or to at least provide some laughter and joy for people. But for now, I will simply leave this here, and tell my mom some crazy story I come up with, and spend the rest of the day trying to make my heart smile.

 

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