Millennial Sinbad
I am often asked why I can never remain in one place for too long. I adore traveling. I always have. As a child of two full time working parents who lived far from our Baghdad home, I was raised primarily by my grandparents who spoiled me a great deal. It was my grandfather who fostered the desire to travel in me. His passion and love for travel and world discovery sparked my own need for exploration. He always used to tell me stories about his adventures in the many places he visited. In my eyes, he was like a real life Sinbad and all I wanted to do in my life is be like him, to explore the globe and have my own adventures and stories to tell to other people.
And that is exactly what ended up happening! My family first began their travels to escape political conflict during Saddam’s reign, then my dad worked as a political advisor for the EU and later as a diplomat in the foreign ministry of Iraq. I was fortunate enough to have the chance to visit and live in many cities and countries. I have been to over 25 countries before the age of 25. This has impacted my psyche in many aspects socially, practically, and psychologically.
Like everything in life, moving frequently has both negative and positive aspects. Living this way helped me gain and obtain excellent social skills. Because it was a matter of life or death for a young girl, when she keeps changing her school each two to three years that I need these skills to fit in and to be cool otherwise, I feared I will be deserted. In my early childhood, I had experienced moving within the same city, but with different neighbors, schools, friends, and people. I have become an outgoing person and can easily get along with different people. This prepared me well when I moved out of the country to an entirely different place and culture. It wasn’t like an impossible mission for me to adapt to the new place and its orientation. It made it like a challenge that I always loved to take.
The price I am paying for moving so often is high. I am already behind in my studies. Moving a lot cost me over six years in school. When all my peers have gotten their graduate degrees, I was still trying to get my Bachelor. I have changed my major more than four times based on what is available in the place I live. Maybe my peers have achieved something with studying, but I have my experience that can be comparable to their degrees. Though I finally received my bachelors degree in Project Management with a 3.9 GPA in 2017 and an associate degree in IT from 2008, I believe life experiences can be more fruitful and didactic than anything taught in classes.
All of these turbulences of life are not without psychological impact. They’ve made me an open-minded person, always welcoming new ideas and eager to discover new things. Which help me to be creative, energetic, determined and most of all spontaneous. It is scientifically approved that living and getting in touch with another culture and learning the practice of that culture may boost the psychological process that makes people more creative. Because no one is perfect, all these good traits come with a few bad ones. These experiences forced me to be a bit careless and anxious at the same time. I know It is a bit contradictory, But that’s who I am.
Once I read a proverb in an Arabic novel stating “The richest woman is not that who has the possessions; However, the richest woman is that who has the best memories.” Maybe I am a little behind with my studies and career, a bit anxious and a little careless. But I have lived and experienced many things that many people would give up their degrees to be in my shoes. Ultimately, one cannot hold more than two apples in one hand.
