stories

Ever since, I moved to Chiang Mai (CM), not that long ago, I have been on a personal pilgrimage. I started off thinking this trip was going to be about one thing – working on my business, and that alone was my reason to come to CM. The first week passed in a flurry of getting used to my apartment, finding internet, finding a water delivery service, finding good places to eat at, fixing broken microwaves, lamps, and finally, getting used to the damn heat.

Throughout this, I kept on doing my morning pages that I had started on September 11th, 2016. Every morning, I sat down like clockwork, and wrote 3 long-hand pages of stream-of-consciousness. Due to my move to CM, and the resulting loss of identity, ego, and routine, I found that the morning pages were revealing long-lost parts of myself. I rediscovered a love for the theatre, singing, watercolour painting, walking, and fashion. It was as if I had been asleep for a long time, and all of a sudden, I was waking up.

Self-Discovery Is A Journey, Not The End Product

The self-discovery process is still going strong, but a lot of my ‘I’m nots’ have been disappearing away. I used to believe, I’m not an actress. I’m not a singer. I’m not a dancer. I’m not a writer. I’m not a storyteller. I had a billion stories I told myself, all of which were false. In taking these stories out of myself and seeing them for the falsehoods they were, I realized, Yes, I’m a writer, singer, dancer, actress, painter, and whatever else I wanted to be. (more…)