Unique:
Being without a like or equal, being the only one.
Last year, I pledged to embark on a quest to find the words which would fill the daunting white space below the word description on my Twitter profile. Since that pledge, I have written ten drafts of my second entry, changing the subject word three times. I have sat down more times than I can count with the intensions of finishing this all important document, but the words just haven’t found me.
There are 171, 476 commonly used words listed in the oxford dictionary. This number does not include the 47, 156 obsolete or the 9, 5oo derivative words listed. This, are you ready for it, brings the ground total to 228, 132 listed English words, so how can it be that I cannot find just one to explore? And if finding one is so difficult, how am I to find several that suit me? After months of brainstorming and endless attempts of bringing my vow to life, I remain at a loss.
When I look into my past, I see the words; Happy, hurt, struggle, fight, strength, hopeful, believer, optimist, funny. When I look to the future, I optimistically see words like; strong, secure, happy, fun, joyful. The thing about the past and future though, is that one has already been written, the words are already there, ready to be plucked, and the other is a piece of fiction, a work that can be re-worked at any time to fit any imagined future. The past can be dictated, the future can be sketched but the present is here, now, and holds no instruction manual. So, in order to continue my story properly, I think I have no choice but to think back to what words I held for my future when I was in my past.
When I was fifteen, the words that I hoped would be mine in the future were: girlfriend, wife, mother, strong, and confident. I hoped that all my childhood dreams would be realized and, above all, I wanted to be happy. Now being in that future, I can say that I have been a girlfriend, I am a wife, and a mother, and I think I am a relatively strong independent person. The only problem is, as great as they are, now that I am in possession of these words, I do not want to be profiled only as these. Now I am aware that these words are important and hold great value, but I know many people who fit this same description. It is ironic really, when I was fifteen, all I wanted in the world was to be indifferent, to have what the average woman had, achieving the stereotypical dreams of every other little girl, and now that I have those words, I am on the hunt for the words that uniquely describe who I am. I guess that’s my word for now. Unique. Amongst all the traditional terms which describe me, I am unique. This word is one which raised great protest from me in the past, and now it is one that I am proudly using to describe me.
Word #1: unique….more to follow
