I am afraid. Once again, I find myself on the brink of a new
decade as I will be turning 40 in just a week. Before I wrap up my thirties, I
thought I would come here to write down my thoughts, as I’ve always loved to
do. At a point, I started being afraid to write but when I realized that nobody
was looking it gave me a sense of relief and honestly, the encouragement I needed
to share. There is a beauty in the silence of knowing that I don’t have an
audience and that nobody cares which allows me to be able to write again.
It’s crazy how I’ve imagined a world that feels so
far-fetched… picturing myself living a life that is completely out of reach.
Eventually, it sinks in that I haven’t achieved any of it and that I probably
never will. Maybe that’s the beauty of books and movies: they let you imagine
what life could have been. If not your own, you get to experience another life by
imagining and partaking in someone else’s. You imagine a life well-lived, and
at some point, these imaginings even intertwine with your memories.
Sometimes the memories you plant and envision for yourself
feel so real… because, in the end, your past becomes a memory. It no longer
feels as tangible as it once was, in the same way that a thought, once written
or dreamed, is never real or part of the present. Neither can you determine the
future because, in truth, the future is never really promised but just planted
as a hope in your memory that you keep on reliving as if it were real and yet
it is not. The one thing we can only know for certain is now—the present
moment. It’s the only feeling that is undoubtedly real, and you can’t debate
it.
So, if I were to live my life like I only had today, how
would I live it?
I think about my life’s journey and how, depending on where
I met someone, they know me differently. Just the other day, my sister ran into
someone I had also met and I asked her if they remembered or asked about me, she
said they did, and she told me they had saved my number as Sylvia from
Cambridge. That got me reminiscing about the year I lived in Cambridge, UK.
I thought about how my American friends call me Kenyan, while I call
them my Americans because I lived in the U.S. for five years. It's funny
cause some of my cousins still refer to me as their cousin from America, which is
funny to me because the reality is, that I am from Kenya and was only in
America for a short time.
I think about how my primary school, growing up my friends
nicknamed me Damascus because I made trips to Damascus during the
holidays. When they’d ask, “Where’s this from?” the answer was always Damascus.
I did most of my shopping from there, everything to the tee, like my pencil and
sharpeners came from Damascus, such that everything I owned was unique to me. You
never really think about the influences of all the places and interactions that
shape you over time, yet those experiences create the memories of the person
you are today including the bits and pieces of the cultures you adapt while
there.
It hit me: I am a TCK (third-culture kid). My experiences
are unique to me. All my life, I’ve wondered why I don’t feel like I belong and
why I feel so different from my peers. Sometimes, I’d suppress parts of myself
to relate better to others, even though I’ve spent most of my upbringing in
Kenya. I realized there’s never been one person I can fully relate to, except for
my siblings, especially my sister Beryl since she is closer to me in age and has
been around me the longest… It’s no wonder we’re so close. I never thought
about how growing up in different cultures would intertwine to create a unique
culture that is truly my own.
I also reflect on my career, how I’ve switched paths so
often, and wonder: Who am I today? What happens to all the different versions
of me I’ve been before?
I was first known as an artist in primary school, everyone loved
and remembers me for my drawings, besides my drawings, I always aced my classes.
In fact, I was always one of the top students but that changed drastically after
a tragic accident that scarred my face, leaving me traumatized. I never like to
talk about the accident as for the longest time it was an been an experience I
never really addressed, at least not fully, the impact it had in my life was huge.
At the time when it happened, I was only nine years old battling the scars of
my damaged face and was admitted in the hospital for months. I was blind for weeks
and didn’t know if I would ever see again at the time. I suffered a concussion
and missed a lot of school. When I finally returned, my scars were visible, and
other children found them scary. I was called ugly, and I was hated and feared,
most ran away from me when they saw me, and even called me names. The insults
stuck with me, as you can imagine that phase of my life was traumatic and it changed
me completely as a person. It was a tough period in my life that affected my performance
in school. I was very insecure and I had to grow through that season accepting
that I was no longer the beautiful, and smart person I knew before, the person
I was before died in that accident, my life had completely changed and survival
for me now meant something else. Despite all my insecurities, it meant that I
had been given a second chance at life and I applaud my family for helping me through
that dark period as they saw me for who I was, besides my scars. Of most importance,
I learned to always spot out the ‘singled out child’ everywhere I went. I
learned the importance of needing a friend, of giving love when it matters most,
because honestly, we all need love in this world, especially children. I
learned that as much as children are innocent, they can also be the meanest and
most hurtful beings that can truly break you as a person, as they do not
understand the purpose of filtering.
In high school, I focused on my sciences, believing I wanted
to be a doctor, I abandoned my love for the arts. At the time, my passion
stemmed from the times I spent in the hospitals at my younger age. I fell in
love with the work doctors and nurses did. I spent time in their offices as they
would allow me to play doctor. So much so that despite my struggles in classes
and discouragement from my teachers, I pursued pre-med and even studied
nursing. I think about how funny it is when people from my high school ask why
I never took art in school when they now see my art. It’s like they are meeting
a different version of me because they never really knew me as an artist, the person
I suppressed, and they still seem confused by my choices today as I had only
been passionate about being a doctor then. If they had known I was chasing a doctor's
dream as it was a promise I had yet to fulfill that I once made to my younger
self. A promise to save a child like me, the same way the doctors and nurses
did for me as they restored my eyesight, not only that, I made it out of the accident
alive, and I was able to continue living my life.
Some people will never meet that version of Sylvia
who did science and wanted to be a doctor. They can’t imagine me in a lab coat dissecting,
under a microscope, or studying anatomy… naming the parts of a skeleton. Some
will never know the version of me who walked the hospital corridors in scrubs.
On the other hand, others are bewildered by my artistic adventures, asking,
“When did you learn to draw? I never knew you could draw” It sometimes feels
like these two people are separate from each other and lived two different
worlds apart, yet, it is still me.
Then there are times like now, when I write, and I remember
my English professor, is the first person who always encouraged me to pursue
writing. Dr. Varn restored my passion for writing, otherwise, I never would
have considered myself a writer. I still keep my writing a secret, it’s the one
thing I fear to embrace. When you see me write, know that I do it in the
confidence of my professor, Dr. Varn, who encouraged and trusted in my
writing and unveiled a piece of me that others never saw, this version of Sylvia
that somehow exists. It makes me remember those who still ask about my women’s
magazine and why I stopped publishing it. I also think about the people who
remember me for my impact on schools and digital library endeavors, and they wonder
what happened, and why I stopped, and then I realize that’s another part of me
I have chosen to suppress, and it's mostly not by choice but circumstance.
When it comes to relationships, I have learned that there is
solace in oneself and that peace can be found in contentment. I am content with
being alone and embracing the quiet understanding that peace is a gift. What
fills my cup are the sweet romances found in stories of hopeless romantics. Stories
that stir my memories and warm my heart. There’s nothing quite like a
beautifully told love story. Despite the absence of love in my life, I still
love love. My love lives on through others, and I get to experience it
through their stories, their memories, and even my own whether once lived or
imagined.
Despite each of these different chapters in my life, I am
reminded that every version of me, every phase of my life, matters and makes me
who I am today. The different versions of me make me think that in every contribution
made, whether minimal or big, they have been impactful. At least I hope so,
that someone, somewhere out there appreciates me, and to me that alone is enough
to feel accomplished. I want to say bye to my thirties as I will soon be
welcoming my forties if God wills, and I hope that while I grow older, I
remember that as I have lived as many different versions of myself, I am glad
that I get to pick and choose which one of me you get to meet. Cheers to that!