“And I hear your words that I made up.”

I’ve become a regular at a local coffee shop in Bali, they know my name and my order! It’s fun. 

Their playlist is the same everyday though. So I’ve been starting most mornings with Adele’s Melt My Heart to Stone. 

“And I hear your words that I made up.”

This lyric so simply and beautifully captures the nature of our psyche in relationship that it’s been haunting me. 

I had a recent conversation with a friend in which I walked away feeling unsettled. “She’s unhinged” I thought to myself. My favorite term for cray cray. And then I thought, Maggie you’re literally having imaginary conversations in your head half the day. 

“And I hear your words that I made up.”

So, what’s crazy?

A quick google search defines crazy as mentally deranged and deranged as…crazy. And Insane as a “state of mind which prevents normal perception.”

NORMAL!  According to whose standards? (Yours!)

We use these loaded labels as a way of saying, “You make me uncomfortable and I don’t understand you.” But what are we trying to understand, really? 

When it comes to my friend, I don’t genuinely know her inner universe. For all I know, her brand of “crazy” could be genius-level originality. And my own version of crazy is simply…avoidance. 😉

So in this cozy coffee shop, in this corner of the world, I’m reminded that our differences are what make us interesting, and our shared humanity is what binds us together. The barista who knows my name, the friend whose behavior I find unsettling, and myself with my imaginary conversations – we are each full of complexities that make us gloriously human. As the Cheshire Cat wisely noted, “We’re all mad here,” and that’s what makes this experience a wild, beautiful adventure. 

Much love.