I like different

A few months ago I had the pleasure of stumbling upon somebody that sparked something in me.

Let me make that completely clear. I feel like in today's age, getting to know someone is such a mediocre fill-in-the-blank type of process and I absolutely hate it. I hate predictable and I hate the usual get to know you, flirt a bit and eventually hangout, hookup, etc.

Funny enough I virtually stumbled upon this individual in Madrid. Neither of us were in Madrid at the time but the concept is kind of cool (long story).

What I liked and really drew me to the conversation is that for the first few hours of the conversation, he asked almost nothing about me. None of the usual, where are you from, what do you do for work/school and mediocre stuff that everyone and their mother asks.

We talked about travelling and travel stories, about food and drinks and dreams and aspirations and things that we love. What is weird is that I knew almost nothing about him. I did not pay any attention to his age, location, or what he did for work or school. Quite frankly, I did not even care.

It was so refreshing to have a conversation that did not bore me to death. Instead, it was "elating" (I know he will smile when he reads this).

At one point we exchanged voice notes. I typically HATE (and i mean HATE) talking on the phone unless I have to and I hate when conversing with someone takes too much effort (such as having to listen to a voice note). For some reason, I did not mind it. I think the weirder part is that I was really focusing on his voice. I remember the first few words I heard, I was almost surprised that he sounded the way he did.

Think about it... have you met someone online and wondered what their voice sounded like? I typically could care less. BUT.

I remember thinking he had a terribly pleasant voice. It was stern and deep but also gentle. I do not think I ever quite paid so much attention to such a thing but it felt so ...intimate..for lack of better words. Here I was, sharing a conversation with someone whom I know nothing about and giggling and it felt just more intimate than some in-person moments. It truly was different.

My point is this: we as humans (my generation at least) have gotten so good at becoming simplistic in the ways in which we communicate. We forget to use big words that hold meaning because we are so quick to want to get the "get-to-know-you" stage out of the way and move on to the more serious in-person stuff. We forget to really find out what lights a person's soul up because we care more about the physical. We forget to really learn about each other and communicate in ways that can really make you want to jump in a car or a plane and go see the person face-to-face. We forget to be different..

Be fucking different. You might like it.