Where Is Home?

Folktale week 2019, DAY 1, prompt: Home. Follow along the week to read a new modern story. Inspired by “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen
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Chapter 1 - Where is home?
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She loved the flowers and watched them grow.
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But underwater she did not belong.
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She travelled far but no place felt like home.
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So she decided that she must finally go.
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I was 19 years old. Super average in school and angry at the polish system that didn’t want me to be creative. Happy to be finally free from mandatory education, age restriction or being told what to do. Feeling the freedom, I spread my wings and smashed my face on the pavement, in front of the bar I was working at. Art school was my dream but I didn’t have any talent for drawing or painting. They told me it is not for me.
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Then an opportunity showed up and I was ready for it. I went to work in Cyprus, in a hotel. From there, I earned the money(half) to enroll for Graphic Design degree. I thought that I will finally belong but it never came. Happy to end the mandatory schools I just went into mandatory jobs, struggling to pay the uni off. Working as a designer at the bank was a big reality check and I knew again that I need to be in a different place.

Luckily, I met my husband, who took me to Czech. I promised myself that no matter how poor, I will do the job that I love. So I did. Frustrated by the inequality in education I found a position where I could do something for kids. I also did my first vector illustrations.

I realized that I was trying to find myself in different countries, in various jobs but I never looked within myself. Jobs, countries or status are just labels. It is not who you are. To find out where do I belong, I started to listen to my gut feeling.
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To be continued tomorrow!