Sami – Auckland
“The last message I sent was to my friend Aman, and it was just simply a conversation between two friends trying to understand how society works and how we fit into that society in Auckland.
We met in high school and he’s one of my best friends, and I think one of my longest friends since I arrived from Malaysia. We’ve developed a deep bond so we can almost share anything – our worries in life and anything I need to talk about or rely on him for. So, a significant person in my life.
We were talking about how we’re at uni right now and most of our friends have left, and they’re in another part of their life, so we’re just wondering how nowadays it’s very important to have a degree and then to get work, and then to move on to a family and that people just seem to follow these steps. So our discussion just revolved around that fact, like how do we fit in that ladder of social evolvement?
We discovered we don’t really fit in that ladder, but rather we seem to be taking another approach where we’re just going along slowly, but we may not go into work straight after. We’re inspired by those who just go traveling and, say, leave everything behind and just travel. That’s what we were really talking about; maybe we should just take a break entirely and discover the world.
I feel welcomed in Auckland. To have someone in life who we can open up with is quite important I think, because when we go through stages in life it does help to have someone to talk with. When you go through life you need someone to lean on and talk with, so from a mental health point of view it is quite important because if you don’t have that person who you can just trust completely, you can’t really talk about yourself. You can’t talk about your issues and challenges.
It comes from your upbringing, so from your family as well as school, because school plays a quite important role. So, environmental factors and your family factors; who you grew up with and who you’re friends with. So if you grew up with a good circle of friends who are open you learn to be open. If you grew up in a good family environment who teach you it’s okay to open up, and you can trust with, then you also learn from that.
I notice every day we’re so focused on ourselves, and just getting from point A to point B; just take some time just to look around, maybe talk to the person next to you on the bus, or just smile and just simply, make a connection. I think that – that small thing every now and then helps in significant ways.”
