A reflection on meeting people from the past
Sometimes I feel like talking to someone from my past — someone who has not been in my life for a long time.
You know how it happens. Suddenly you meet them somewhere, or maybe they call you, and they expect you to be the same person as before.
I am not talking about a few days or a few months. I am talking about a few years. And that is a lot of time. A lot can change in that time.
I may not be the same person anymore. Things change. New experiences shape a person. Maybe the person has completely changed.
So the problem for me is not facing people from the past. It is completely fine to meet them, ask how they are, or ask how life has been going for them. It is actually nice to reconnect.
The problem I feel is the perception they hold of me.
It is often exactly the same as before. They expect me to behave exactly like I used to. And strangely, I can almost feel it — how they expect me to behave.
And you know the awkward thing?
For some time, I become that version of myself.
The identity they still have in their mind.
For the duration of that conversation, I almost slip into that old role.
But when the conversation ends, and I sit and reflect on what just happened, I can clearly see that I am not that person anymore.
That version of me appeared for a moment.
And intuitively, a sense of uneasiness comes into my mind, because I can see that I just moved away from my core — from who I am now.
The more I remain present with my current self, with my true identity as it exists today and not in the past, the more at peace I feel.
And sometimes I wonder…
Maybe we all do this.
Or maybe the person in front of me also experiences the same thing — this quiet shifting of identity.