Connecting hearts & minds — How a tech company forever changed my life
I thought it was going to be easy. When I first moved from Peru to California for college, I thought living on my own, exploring a new culture, and being far away from people I’ve known my whole life were going to would be exciting. I was a 16 year old fresh out of high school with the idea that L.A. is paradise.
But… I got homesick weeks after. It was hard for me to make friends in a place where I had to be extroverted to start conversations. Mom and Dad thought I was doing well, but I didn’t want to tell them that I was struggling because it’ would make them worry. I was very insecure about literally everything.
If you look at my drafts on Medium, I have so many things written that I’ll eventually share with this community. In high school, I used to hate writing. But I changed and it wouldn’t have happened if a close friend wouldn’t have encouraged me to write.
Social media is strange because it sometimes deceives us from reality. On Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, we tend to see the happiest and most exciting moments of people, and we don’t like to share that we are vulnerable. We like to take control of how we are seen and we don’t want to show that we cry, that we are sad, and that we need help.
Here are what were my reactions to my friends “you should write about your life”:
I don’t want to share my life with people.— Oh judgement!
My English is really bad — (Oh judgement!)^2
My life isn’t interesting enough — (Oh judgement!)^3
WOW right? Sounds like Silvia Li Sam is a really negative person and she cares so much about what others think. Meanwhile through my social world, people would think Silvia was a “doer”, Silvia does some many things, Silvia will accomplish anything she wants. The reality was that I felt pressured to be who everyone was expecting. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone, and I felt sad every day. I am not who everyone thinks I am, I used to think.
I decided to give writing a try since therapy didn’t really work and ice cream was getting expensive. I wrote reflections once a week on Medium and on my journal. I had written posts about things I cared about like technology, traveling, education (in Spanish), but never about self-reflection.
Here was my first personal post:
The Hardest Question I’ve Tried to Answer — What Makes Me Happy?
I never expected to get any attention. Before submitting the publish button, I thought: wow I did it! I wrote it!
The next morning, notifications on Medium went crazy. There were people who actually felt the same way I did. Some shared their very personal stories, some emailed me with encouraging messages, some told me they started writing because of me and that they signed up on Medium because they wanted to respond. It moved me.
Things have been crazy since and though sometimes I still can’t find answers, I am happy with myself now. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I have no FOMO.
You see, when I started writing more often, things started getting better and better. Writing my thoughts and sharing it with people allowed me to understand that I wasn’t alone. I started meeting people who felt the same way and people who I knew who related to me. All our opinions and feelings matter. The way I think about it is that sometimes it’s not only about us, but it is what we can do for the people around us as well.
The interactions on Medium are so real. No other company has touched my life as Medium did. When I started publishing things on Medium, I found a sense of belonging to people across the globe, empathy I would say. There are moments in our lives where we feel lost and we can’t find the answers we want. By finding myself through writing, learning and genuinely caring for people’s stories, Medium changed my life.
There are strangers who have cold emailed me asking me for life advice and career advice. It’s crazy that they’re asking a 20 year-old for life and career advice, but it makes me happy that I can resonate with people even though I have so much more to learn from everyone I talk to or everyone I haven’t met yet. That’s why storytelling is so cool and powerful. To some of us, it’s difficult to express how we feel, but places like Medium have helped us communicate in our own comfort and way.
Four years after, as I leave college, it scares me to work in a place where I can’t feel or find purpose. Fortunately, writing will always be with me. Thanks Medium for somehow helping me find purpose. Connecting hearts and minds is a strong feeling and statement that I resemble strongly. Thanks to the Medium Staff who I follow/have read your stories, and have made this place part of me, among them: Naureen, Luke Esterkyn, Joe Polastre, Andy Doyle, Joy Chen, Ev Williams, Greg Gueldner, Sarah Agudo, Brian Ellin, Sasha Lubomirsky, Tyler Hedrick, Saul Carlin, Karen Jaimes, Kate Lee, Tyler Howarth, Marcin Wichary.
Let me be part of your story and join me :)
If you relate, I’ll love to hear your story. Connect with me please!
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