Regaining The Colors

Imagine being born in a world where you can have everything and yet at the same time feel like everything you have is slipping out of your reach. I was born in a country full of riches and had a happy childhood until the very moment my family decided to resettle into another town.

It was definitely hard being the new kid, but on the other hand it always is. Is it not? The thing though that you have to understand is that I have always been different from the people of the country I was born in. Having a different cultural background can have massive effects on the way you grow up, which was the case for me too. It all started with my name nobody was able to pronounce properly, which made me quite distinguishable from the get go. In this new environment I was automatically an outsider. I started to feel this massive anger against my school comrades for calling me different, when I was clearly not. I spoke the same language as them, celebrated the same festivities as them and dressed the same as them. I never understood as a child why I was being bullied.

From that point on I started getting quiet, I sat alone during lunch break and the thought of having to spend another 8 years in this town made me sad again. While everyone started having boyfriends I was glad I had a few people I could call my friends. I felt empty inside as if there was no point in doing something with my life.

One day though I saw this girl draw something for a contest, it was a Cartoon drawing, which I thought was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen so far in my life. That girl she was the reason I started drawing, I was jealous of her being this good and thought I could try it too and ended up later winning a contest for my drawing.

However this is not the end of my story. I was fortunate enough to spend a year abroad and see a different world, one that did not stuck to its own towns borders. People there were so different and nice to me. Yet again I was the new kid, but this time around people accepted me the way I was and for the first time I felt that this deep empty void inside of me was gone. I did sports like Basketball and Track and I was fairly good at it. I made friends and for the first time in my life I felt like I belonged, like this was the place I always was meant to be. That was the very moment a switch flipped in my brain. I used to see the world in black and white, but everything changed. My life had regained its colors again. I was happier and my drawing skills got better and like they improved so did I.