The Commonality Of Our Life Experiences

I have been reminded many times that we are all different. Every clinical case is different. Every person is different. We are all individuals with our own personality that is purely our own. Each of us has been exposed to a diverse series of life experiences, the timing of which is individual.

I don’t think anyone wants to be just like all the rest. We may want to be a part of a tribe, but not necessarily to the point in which we fade into the background. There is a beauty and freedom in being different, in being my own persona.

But with that said, after 46+ years on the planet interacting with a large number of people in a variety of life scenarios, I have come to one major conclusion. I think that although we are all individuals, we all go through a number of life experiences that are consistent for the vast majority of the population.

Although we claim to be “individual”, we have more things in common amongst us than those that are diverse. We are all members of the same species – Homo Sapiens. This gives us a consistent genetic foundation. Let’s remove the color of our skin, our nationality, and our gender from the equation. It is the the events and experiences that occur on our own individual timeline on the planet that start to sound familiar amongst all of us.

All of us are here seeking to understand many things in life, trying to comprehend what it all means. We will all experience a death in our lives, and we will all be faced with our own mortality. We will all be challenged by life in a variety of ways, challenges to our spirituality, our physical health, and our emotional well-being. We will all try to leave some legacy for the world on whatever level we can imagine. We may not specifically call it a “legacy”, but it is the particular stamp that we leave on our world.

We will all be faced with the reality of ourselves, the reflection of ourselves in the mirror. There will be times when we will frolic in what we see, and times in which we will be hard-pressed to appreciate the reflection. We will all stand face-to-face with our perceptions of the world and of ourselves. We will all try to find meaning, value, and self esteem.

We are all just a bunch of cells trying to find our way on the planet. We are not Republican or Democrat, black or white, rich or poor, Christian or Muslim, the 99% or the 1%.

None of us are alone, regardless of how isolated and individual we may feel. We are all in this together. There have been many before us and will be many after us that will survive the same life experiences. We are all on a journey to learn and grow and discover ourselves, a journey fueled by compassion and love for one another. The commonality can be quite comforting. And that, my friends, is the beauty of life itself.

Photo credits: gfpeck