What was the most unexpected or strange thing that happened to you this year?
The ThinkKit Prompt: Share the strangest experience of your year. Did you do something new or unexpected, see something out of the ordinary, or have a unique experience? What was so strange about it?
This prompt stumped me for a bit, because I would say I did nothing that was even remotely strange this year. What constitutes strange anyway? I needed to find out more about what the word strange really means, so I went to trusty Google and this is what I learned:
Strange streɪn(d)ʒ/ adjective
1. unusual or surprising; difficult to understand or explain.
2. not previously visited, seen, or encountered; unfamiliar or alien. “she was lost in a strange country.” synonyms: unfamiliar, unknown, new, alien, previously unencountered “when children visit a strange house, they are often a little shy.”
So based on the definition of strange, maybe I did do a few things that were a bit strange or different by the standards of others. I have a tendency to not live by the standards that others set, never have and likely never will, so I don’t judge myself against them.
On a whim, I decided to put my house up for sale and purge myself of every thing that was in that house that did not have some absolute value to me. Hauling things to the Goodwill, giving things away to others, and being brutal about it.
My friends would ask, “where are you moving to?” and of course my response was a bit strange for them, “I have no idea; I have not given it any thought. I just feel the need to untether, to rid myself of things for reasons I do not know.”
What I found strange about all of this was how other people reacted. Because I could not answer their questions about what I was going to do and where I was going to go, many of my friends and family were quite agitated and annoyed with me.
One friend went through all the stuff that I was putting in a garage sale and took items home with her because she felt that I should not be getting rid of them. She told me she is saving these items for me for when I come back to my senses.
Yet another friend posted on my Facebook profile, “You are getting ready to do Eat, Pray, Love, aren’t you?” Clearly many people saw my actions as strange, but I was just following my intuition that clearly said that I needed to untether from those things which holds you back from wandering the world freely.”
So I did, and now I am indeed wandering the world freely!
