the people you'll meet

You will meet go-getters. The ones who are keen and optimistic. The ones who bounce into your life and radiate an electric sort of energy. You will be inspired by them. You will be swept away by these people. They teach you, they push you, they enlighten you.

You will meet people who will leave you. These are the hardest people to meet. Because you will get to know them, open up your big, soft heart and let them make a home inside. You will cherish them and forgive them and they will leave. And no amount of pulling, or words, or love will make them stay. 

You'll meet people who feel like home. And sunshine. And winter nights by the wood stove. 

You will meet people who love you more than you love them. You’ll worry that you’re going to hurt them, and you might, but do not let that change your mind. There are some people who will walk into your life to show you how you should be loved. Cherish these people. You will miss them one day.

You will meet soulmates. Not just lovers. You’ll find your weekend beer pong partner soulmate. And your movie night soulmate. Your real soulmate. And the two more after that. You’ll meet your best friend soulmate. And that professor who just — gets it. You’ll have soulmates that you gossip with, and some you cry with. Some who know how to make you feel better and some who you’re not sure why they’re still around. You’ll meet someone who you think is your soulmate until it turns out they aren’t. And you’ll meet someone who you think for sure most definitely is not your soulmate and it turns out they are.

You’ll meet people who give you bad vibes. You’ll meet criminals, people who want to hurt you. Bullies and backstabbers. Sketchy people who follow you across the street. You'll meet friends who are fake and people who trick you. You'll meet liars and thieves.

You’ll meet a million best friends. The one who makes you dinner after a tough week and one to take shots with at the bar. One who braids your hair when you’re too exhausted to move and one who gives the best breakup advice. One who you dance on countertops with. One who you think will be your best friend forever but they won't be. One who talks behind your back and one who brags about you. One who needs you and one you need.

You’ll meet fighters, and protesters. Feminists, lovers, learners. You’ll meet people who’ve lived through traumatic childhoods and rich kids who’ve never worked a day in their life. You’ll meet people with accents from dialects you don’t recognize and people from countries you’ve never heard of.

You’ll meet the same person over and over again as they grow. You might not like every version of them. You don’t have to.

You’ll meet people who come into your life solely to stir it up. They might take you on a great adventure, they might break your heart. They might show you reality, they might show you imagination. These people will alter your sense of yourself. And if they leave, or rather when they do, you will find that the people you meet after them just feel different.

You will meet people by accident, who maybe teach you a lesson you otherwise wouldn’t have learned, or maybe hurt your feelings. You will wonder why you ever met these people in the first place. You’ll know later. 

You will meet people who just want your body, people who don’t want your body at all. People that you kiss and never talk to again, people that you talk to but never kiss. 

You’ll meet someone and fall in love with them.

You’ll meet someone and fall in love with them and break up.

You’ll meet someone who falls in love with you and you’ll be scared to try again.

You will meet poets, and presidents, celebrities and hard workers. Artists, actors, scientists, prodigies. Mathematicians, salesmen, cashiers, hopeless romantics, drug addicts, hippies, people with anger issues, people with daddy issues, people with people issues. You’ll meet wealthy, and poor, smart, and curious. You’ll meet people who may never even say hello. 

Most of all, you’ll meet yourself. Over and over again. You will meet yourself as you grow into a new person, when you look in the mirror at the smile lines that age your face. You will meet the you who’s the happiest person in the world, and the you who is jealous. The you that’s in love, the you who is grieving, the you who is manic and the you who is tranquil. The you who suffers some nights in the winter and the you who is swallowed by nostalgia in the early Tuesday morning light. 

You’ll meet the you who was broken but found a way to put the broken pieces back together, the you who landed your dream job. You'll meet little pieces of yourself in everyone you know, and grow pieces of yourself because of the people you meet. You’ll meet the you that experienced trauma and the you who learned how to survive and then how to heal. The you who loves people deeply and wholly, the you who empathizes with them, too.

The most important person in your life is the you that you will meet every morning with the sunrise, and the you that you will say goodnight to every night with the moon. You will find that that person is different every day, and you will find ways to love them regardless. Say hello, say Good Morning. Allow yourself to be patient with the you that you meet every day, like you would any other person you encounter.

Practice your elevator pitch. You might meet a CEO one day. And practice your empathy, for the people who might be dependent on meeting you. Practice your “Nice to Meet You” and practice your goodbye. But most of all, practice on being welcoming to everyone you’ll encounter. Brave face, shoulders back, smile big. You never know, the next person might be the best person.