Of late, one of the ideas I have been most inspired by is the concept of ‘The World is My Family.’
I first heard this a few months ago during a conversation with my uncle, who is quite the prolific entrepreneur. While I should save his ‘story’ for another blog post, he left home when he was 19 and had a very eventful journey, full of ups and downs that included times when he didn’t have money for food or a place to stay and eventually ended up in a proverbial ‘rags to riches’ tale as he found success and fortune running Rasa, a popular chain of restaurants in the UK.
‘The World is My Family‘ is his expression – he uses it to describe how he found care, affection and love from the world outside home. It was his way of expressing how he learnt to expand his heart beyond the love for his family to love for all who he met, and cared for, during his journey.
And when I think of it for myself, I left home (albeit in very different circumstances) for university 5 years ago now and I have constantly been amazed at how I’ve found family wherever I’ve gone. It’s almost felt like it’s meant to be – I’ve found close friends when I needed them, older siblings when I needed them, younger siblings to pamper and develop, parent-like mentors all through who have more than looked after me – they’ve cared for me enough to give me the hard knocks when necessary and yet, always made sure they’ve been around to catch me when I’ve fallen.
And this family is only growing. 2 years ago, I began writing emails 3 times a week to 3 very close people I considered ‘family’. Now that list has expanded to over 10 to write to every weekend, and another 10 to write to every month, more every 3 months and is only expanding. The more I seem to open myself to the influence of others, the more I seem to be finding family. It truly amazes me.
In my case, I realize it started thanks to my very admirable mother, who has always encouraged me to be open, accepting and welcoming. As a result, when I started out, I found I was probably less wary than most, but yet not-so-welcoming. But somewhere down the line, I found myself beginning to realize that we have space in our hearts and minds for more people than we can ever imagine.
We just have the open, accepting and welcoming.
(Thanks Mom! The more I ‘grow up’, the more I find myself impressed by the depth of the things you have taught me.)
A Learning a Day 