Fortress of Solitude

          The past week has been an exceptionally stressful one. I’ve realized that sleep is a distant idea; an entertaining notion at best. March is a month of papers, assignments and the very brink of tedium! I am rather exhausted and there is still so much left to do! In general, I would consider myself to have a fairly relaxed personality. However, when faced with a plethora of anxiety-inducing assignments, my relaxed personality flees. Just sitting here writing this blog is significantly exhausting my intellectual reserves. Mind you, I always have the ability to indulge in my thoughts.

         I actually was discussing something rather fascinating with an old friend of mine yesterday. I posed the open-ended question “do you ever wonder?” Naturally the response was a definite “Of course!” Continuing in the exercise, I asked her what made her wonder. I laughed at the simple and yet resounding answer. “What doesn’t?” They went on to tell me that they had just been sitting watching the birds fly earlier that day and were wondering why can’t we fly? Naturally, I didn’t have any answers, merely more questions. It was just another one of a billion or so questions that fascinate and amuse me.

           

          I was indulging in my own fantasies of wonderment at the same time. I had always wished I had been born a prodigy, a child with some sort of advanced intelligence. Alas, I was rather simple. As a child, I was somewhat inept. I started school at the age of 4, and it was questioned whether I should be held back. I had trouble with the simplest of tasks and was relatively under-developed for my grade. However, I was given a chance to redeem myself. Continuing throughout school I was a rather mediocre student, merely portraying myself as intelligent. The reality of the matter simply was that I took solace in books. I was no more or less intelligent than any other average child. The only advantage I had was my voracious appetite for more books. Books were an intellectual haven, with characters that were relatable, plots that were shocking, and worlds that only exist in the mind. We all have our havens. My mind is my fortress of solitude.