Layers

 Starting over is beyond strange.

I just moved away from home for the first time, and the constant advice thrown my way is to "be yourself."

How can I possibly be myself if I am simultaneously establishing who I want to be? What if I don't know who I am, to begin with, therefore making it difficult to be myself?

Prior to moving, I felt that I had a decent grasp on who I am as a person, but I've realized that this feeling of security in my identity came from people around me, particularly my family, that have known me for my entire life and therefore did not require me to explain my entire identity to them.

Now, I meet someone new almost every single day. 

Every time I meet a new person, they want to know who I am.

These new people don't know who I am. They do not know the nicknames I had as a child, my favorite color, any of my friends from home, or anything about the major life experiences that have formed who I am. I am constantly explaining layers of myself and it can be exhausting.

I have a lot of layers to who I am. Everyone has layers to who they are. 

I just wish that revealing these layers was a little easier, that's all. 

-Emma Lancaster