"The light in me honors the light in you."
It's one of my favorite phrases from yoga. And I think it's that way because we have a hard time acknowledging the light in ourselves. But, this is a self-referential reminder, because if you don't honor the light in you, then you can't honor the light in anyone else. It's funny how that works, right?
I was talking to a friend the other day about how hard it is to come up with things to talk about with other people. I've been working heads down for most of 2025, building software with AI tools, and no one in my life knows what that's like. People who talk about work all the time are boring and dull, and I don't like that the way I feel about work is part of my identity. I don't like that the workaholism in my spirit is part of who I am, so I don't like to talk about work when I'm in social situations.
I also think that talking about diet and exercise and body composition and losing weight and whatever workout program I'm doing is not very interesting because they're not things I'm interested in, they're things that I do.
I can't imagine that the things that my kids do are interesting to most anybody else either. When people ask about my kids, I think they're doing it perfunctorily. Because most people who ask don't really know them. So, what do I say? I don't want to sound like the person with an honor roll sticker on their car. That's not the most important thing about my kids either.
So honestly, it doesn't leave much. I can talk about books with people until the cows come home. I'm happy to talk about what I'm watching, even though that's getting weirder and weirder since my husband and I have really gotten into Indian cinema. Part of me wants to learn how to line dance like they do in the Bollywood and Tollywood movies.
I'm happy to talk about things that I'm cooking, but maybe that's not very interesting either. So maybe I'm not in a place where I can easily meet new people. Maybe that's where it is.
Or maybe it's that more of what I am is not really about the gym or which AI tools I'm into right now. Maybe it's more about what lights me up, so I can connect with people who also like to decorate for Christmas in November, or enjoy hiking without it being a competition, or read for pleasure, but can't tell me how many books they read this year because it's not about that, or the people that are listening to books while spending time in nature.
Or the people who also live somewhere that they weren't born in, but have made a new place their home.