Characters

Have you ever thought about what your life would sound like if it was written as a novel? What character did each person play in that phase of your life? Well, here is a light-hearted version of some of the characters that played some big roles in my story so far.

Shaniya

Shaniya Byron, whoever said soul mates didn’t exist through your girlfriends? Sunshine put on this earth, with the occasional Britany Spears moment of shaving her head on a whim or uprooting her life on the other side of the continent to follow the never-ending journey of ‘finding ourselves’. This decade of being in our twenties has seen the both of us ugly cry over FaceTime every few months, normally over a boy, or occasionally a real-life adult issue. Shaniya has seen me in ways that no other friend has. She is the type of person that touches your soul from afar, with that humbleness of never really telling you. Shaniya is one of those rarities, like when you find the coolest outfit you’ve ever seen, convince yourself not to buy it and think about it for the rest of your life. On the surface, I think she knows this, but only through her experiences with the ordinary people, she finds herself surrounded by. Uninspired people always find ways to dim other people’s light. However, I don’t know how much she really knows the impact she has on this world. Shaniya and I have this amazing talent where we take turns having mental breakdowns. I often daydream about the day when we are sitting in the hinterland of our beautiful farmhouses, drinking Pino Noir and laughing hysterically about how fucked up our twenties were. Meanwhile, our incredible, wealthy, intelligent, fun, sexy husbands are looking after the children while cooking us dinner. We have manifested this, so it will definitely happen. I find it quite easy to make friends in life, but it is in my nature to pick apart people until I get so sick of their annoying tendencies that I’ll become so avoidant that I forget they exist and move along in life. Yes, I am aware of this unhealthy pattern I seem to continue to adapt. Anyways, not Shaniya, she is probably the only person on this earth that makes me feel grounded and seen. I love her with my entire heart.

Bea

Legend has it that Earth Angels exist, and if you’re lucky enough you might experience meeting one in your lifetime. Bea is my Earth Angel. She graciously floated to my table at a café in Bali and the first thing she asked was ‘Do you want to be friends? It’s a rare experience you meet people that ooze as much confidence and fierce feminine energy as Bea. The first night we spent together saw us dancing for hours to reggaeton with a group of incredible women and ended it naked in the ocean under the full moon. It is these exact moments your soul dreamt about lifetimes ago. Bea has taken up a permanent space in my life that I didn’t even know had been reserved for her the entire time. She entered my world and bought love, compassion and wisdom that will leave a permanent imprint on the woman I become in this world. In my next life when I’m winning noble peace prizes for my work in human justice, she will be the one I thank on stage for being the woman that pushed and inspired me more than anyone else. If I could, I would wish every woman to have a Bea in their life. A woman that is so unapologetically herself you can’t help but be in awe of her spirit while at the same time listening to the in-depth stories of her recent sexual experiences in the middle of a busy café. I never believed in love at first sight until this London goddess flew her tiny and funky-dressed body into my life at the most perfect time. I dream about the day 10 years from now when we are drinking red wine in a villa in Italy laughing about how seriously we took our twenties. How wise we thought we were, knowing that everything we think we want now will look completely different. And that is the exciting thing about life. When you surround yourself with people that actually do the things, you will get to experience all the magic this life has to offer with your sisters right next to you. It is both a blessing and a curse to meet soul sisters that live on the other side of the world. But if there is one important lesson I've learnt through the chaos of my twenties, it is the importance of sisterhood and the care and effort it takes to nurture something so precious. Bea deserves all the love in this world, and when there are moments in her life where she wonders if love is real, I will be there to remind her just how goddam special she is.

Caitlin

Caitlin has a tendency to shut down all the ridiculous and exaggerated things I have to say. I weirdly love it. I respect people that can tell me how it is without worrying about my reaction, only strong people can do that. Like a birthday cake, even if you tell everyone how much you don’t want a birthday cake and hate birthdays and you still get one but eat it regardless with zero regrets, and you normally feel a lot better afterwards. She once told me that she doesn’t say a lot about how she really feels regarding my foolish stories, which worried me about what on earth more she could have to say. Luckily the universe takes one for the team and has various ways of humbling me so Caitlin doesn’t have to. Caitlin is one of those people that you actually need in your life. She has gentle ways of making life seem a lot easier than it feels. I used to loathe people that were too likeable, but Caitlin has this superpower where you literally can not NOT like her, or maybe I have just grown up and don’t see put-together people as a threat to my own sense of self. Like Shrek (sorry for this comparison), she is like an onion, with many layers she rarely shows people unless the opportunity presents itself. I love all of these moments, I like to get to know people and Caitlin only gives out crumbs. I’m addicted to crumbs, so I’ll take what I can get. I wonder if she knows she does this. I like hearing about her spirituality; I adore people that can live authentically without telling the world how authentic they are, which really highlights the inauthenticity of their authenticity. Anyways, Caitlin is someone I wished I knew early in life and hope to know for a lot longer. I get scared of losing people like Caitlin because she is the type of person I constantly search for. Sometimes I get this weird feeling of power where I feel like her chaotic little sister that she needs to nurture and if I wasn’t her friend and really her sister, she would say all of those things on her mind. I don’t mind it though, she has a way of feeling like you deserve to be cared for, what a great characteristic to have. Caitlin is normal, compared to abnormal people like me, but normal in the best way, a person who makes you feel like everything will be okay if she is in your life.

The Poet

A man I was not ready for. A shooting star that gave me glimpses into what I wanted in a man. “People don’t know how to just enjoy the moments with people’ he said. It’s in these subtle message’s men let you know that this is nothing serious, don’t look too far into this because it's not there. It’s a strange experience when you meet mature, masculine men that a few weeks later ghost you in the same fashion all immature men do. Recently I was told by a man that there are only two types of men, assholes and dickheads, I’ll let you guess which one he was.