Introduction:
On this podcast episode, we are talking with the one and only, future president of the United States and my dear friend: India Henderson. For those that haven’t had the utmost pleasure to meet this amazing human being, India is simply a STAR. I mean she literally was the lead in every musical, play or dance performance in high school and what I soon found out also in college. In addition to her artistic side, India is a tenacious athlete, the most graceful shot-putter and hurdler the world has ever seen.
But this brilliance didn’t just end there. She continued this stardom in college at University of Richmond where yet again she made audiences laugh, cry and absolutely adore her with her stellar performances.
But under all of those titles and accomplishments, India is also probably one of the most kindhearted people I know. She is passionate. And driven. And intelligent. And hilarious. An inspiration to all that meet her. And she has taken these amazing qualities abroad to Toulouse, France which is where I come in the picture. I had the privilege of sharing the good old Christmas holiday spirit with this queen in December. We drank wine and bought van chaeu at every corner. We spread delicious but smelly cheese on perfectly toasted bread. And we caught up after practically four years of not seeing each other.
So without further ado… can I get a round of applause for the never the same, spectacular, totally unique, completely not ever been done before India Henderson?
Beginning of Conversation:
Tricia: That sizzle…Everything I’ve eaten here has been a little bit burnt. It was the cookies, it was the pan-au-lait, it was the… salmon. What else?
India: But you know every one of those things hit. Everyone one of them. You know it.
India: Now it won’t turn on
India: The soup will not be burnt
India: Okay, my head is not feeling better but it’s also not feeling worse.
Tricia: Do you want some tea?
India: No, it’s okay I will just drink water. I just don’t feel like making it. It’s a lot.
Tricia: It’s a lot, yeah.
India: Okay, I’m ready.
Tricia: So this is India Henderson, our student body president of class of 2017. Our what was it? Work–work job head.. What were you.. work program…
India: Work Program head.
Tricia: Class officer freshman year, already starting off so incredibly strong. And now she’s in France…
India: …burning soup
Tricia: Burning soup, burning bread and just drinking wine like its water.
Where Are You? And What Are You Doing Right Now?
India: I’m in Toulouse France, it is in the South of France in Occitanie, in one of the more southern regions.
Tricia: Chuckle
India: What? Are you laughing at my region?
Tricia: she’s like let me add that accent
India: French impressions but yeah I moved here in October so now it’s the end of December so I’ve been here almost three months and so I moved to France cause it’s always been a long term goal of mine to be fluent in French, it was almost my major, I was one class away from it being my major… I’m not upset about it, I did consider it but my senior year, I just didn’t really feel it. I considered it and then said no. I had the chance to study abroad in College in Rén, in a different region, it was the beginning of the pandemic so I got there January 2020 (you were also studying abroad) and we had to leave in March 2020 because of the pandemic. And so I said I never got my dream of living in France so the plan was to work in the summer and get my teaching certificate so I could work and teach English while on my tourist visa. And that makes it sound easy but it was long and hard. But it was definitely worth it, definitely worth all the hard work and also set in motion something that I’ve always wanted for the first was probably the most exciting part of it. I was really trying to not ask for help from anyone, even though it probably could have been actually helpful sometimes to ask for help but it was a really rewarding process. I learned a lot about myself and about French bureaucracy and [I learned] a lot about patience. So now I’m here in Toulouse.
Doing the Visa Process Alone/Independently
Tricia: A huge part of the journey for me at least was like doing it all by myself and I think I’ve grown up as a younger child, it might be different cause you were the oldest, but I feel like my mom always held my hand … She low-key did all my projects in middle school.
India: Let’s talk about it
Tricia: but I was really… This was something I did entirely on my own…um.. and like I cried a lot.
India: As one does
Tricia: And I think I knew that even when I was doing the hard part and it was taking a long while and I was messing up I knew I didn’t want anyone to be there and I wanted to look back and see that I did that all by myself… And I was really proud of myself in that regard.
[PAUSE]
India: Our soup is looking good. It doesn’t have as many contents, I guess. Its supposed to be chicken noodle soup, but it’s not that many noodle or that much chicken.
Tricia: And like that doesn’t have chicken in it, does it?
India: It says that it has chicken in it.
Tricia: That’s kind of scary… I wish you had not told me that
How Long Have You Been in Toulouse? And Why Toulouse?
Tricia: So you were able to come to France one and a half months in advance than me. I feel like we talked about this, that it’s nice visiting here because you’re just in the future of hopefully where I will be, so how was it coming to an entirely new place? Whereas I have my groupchat with the auxes or language assistants, you just came here and boom, this is an entirely new city and you had no one that you knew from here…
India: I don’t really know… Why….. I’m a cancer…(chuckle) for some people there sign is not everything…for me, it does feel like it slightly explains a lot things
Tricia: India’s SBP speech, I do want to start off… “I’m like a cancer”
But no I’m a serious homebody and I really enjoy being with my family, there are a lot of comfort zone stuff… I still dont know… But there was something in my life that was like you need to do this, and you need to do this now. Like I can’t think of any other reason why I would be like i am going to go to this city that I’ve never been to before… My mom studied abroad in France when she was in college and she spent the first month in Toulouse… I am many versions of my mother… Like I said we are all becoming our mothers…that’s literally the only reason I knew the city and so i did more research and saw that it was a student town, it’s actually the biggest student town in France, even bigger than Paris, and its one of the most rapidly growing cities in France so last year it was fifth largest and this year it’s forth.. it’s exciting because I like being in places like that… I didn’t want to be in a city like Paris.. and I like Toulouse cause there are so many young people who are creative and there are so many places where I can see so many theaters and professional shows and take part in, in any way and that was something really exciting about the city. And I liked that it was in the south of France that was something new for me and so I chose Toulouse and I came here and as a homebody I really
like planning when I leave the house, and I have 50 tabs, as soon as I got here I joined different Facebook groups. There is an Americans in Toulouse page which was a good place to start and I started saying that I am going to be teaching private lessons in English to students, I am a certified English teacher, I have my TOEFL certificate and I can also babysit whatever and I got SO many responses to that, there was one older couple whose kids are grown and they were like “we’ve lived all around the world and the guy, the husband, is a Pulitzer prize winning writer, and they’ve lived like all around the world for his journalism jobs but the woman, his wife is from France and they started here and so they invited me to their house, and they were like “we can sip on some wine and you can ask us any questions you have about Toulouse” and but it was really nice that they even offered to that and there were other people who needed babysitters… We went to dinner last night with a family who I met through this page so it’s been really nice kind of having people be so nice.
And my anxiety pushed me to join many different Facebook pages like I am in a Facebook page about auditions, theater and film auditions, I am also on a page for ‘English teachers in Touolouse’ or ‘English speakers in Toulouse’ or ‘People Who Want to Learn French in Toulouse.’ so it’s been fun having opportunities to leave my apartment or force myself to leave because I do feel like everytime I leave I am forcing myself to leave, even still. And it’s fun to challenge yourself in that kind of way and it’s been a really good challenge and something that can be hard depending on the day or my mindset but I find that it is always really worth it to leave my apartment so I’m finally feeling pretty settled like I have found people and I feel really lucky to have run into people I have run into but I also feel like it’s my mindset, like seeking, like I want to learn French and put myself out there every way that I can. And that’s been really rewarding.
The Importance of Perspective When Trying New Things
Tricia: I think it’s amazing how much perspective and drive can impact your experience cause I have been in Spain before, I did study abroad in Spain my senior spring in Córdoba and I feel like I was very lost during that time period because my only objective was to just not be on Williams campus. I just didn’t want to be there. But unlike Rio where I was like I want to connect to my Brazilian heritage, I want to learn the language, whereas when I was in Córdoba it was like a negative objective, like I don’t want this so I will be here and I feel like that drive of wanting to.. and I can see that shift during my time in Jaén, like sharing that same drive, like I want to learn this language and I want to meet people and it’s amazing how much that mental shift can impact opportunities to meet people and have these amazing experiences and just being able to say yes how much that can bring new opportunities into your life that you wouldn’t have expected.
India: Like you on the plane !
Tricia: So I had this middle middle seat and this guy kept on trying to talk to me and I was like oh my god it’s only been a second, this is like really great… And he wanted to sit next to his girlfriend… Right… But you know like what is a girlfriend? But because of that I got bumped into another seat and essentially this girl sat with me on this same aisle and we just began talking and it was this sort of mutual like “I want to get to know you” and I think I am allowing myself to be more open to that and I think I am more confident to that opportunity than I was in the past, and then I made a friend!
India: and therefore, I made a friend yeah…cause she lives in Toulouse, fun fun for everyone!
India: So exactly it was like you had the confidence, the energy, that was seeking this person, really just anyone, generally you could have had that conversation with anyone becuase you are just at this place where you can do that.
Tricia: and also able to attract those types of people…
Right, like I think when you are also closed off to yourself I think people can also subconsciously realize that
India: like you want to talk to her, she doesn’t want to talk to you?
Tricia: like ooohhh the chase. I’m kidding respect people’s boundaries. But when people can recognize that in you, like the family we had dinner with yesterday but also this other family, that’s brought forth by taking that first chance… Because people recognize how hard that can be and I think that’s really alluring to people because they were probably in that place one point in their lives
Language Learning – Taking It Day by Day
India: that’s also a cool thing about meeting people abroad… I love meeting other international people abroad because they understand your experience, they understand how cool it is, they understand how scary the day to day… They just understand that and all the above and they are just so much more open, like they are the big siblings, the parents away from home in ways that other people in your family, like you are trying to explain to them…
There are some days that are so immersive, like I hang out with someone for five hours and they don’t speak any English. Like it’s a really huge challenge for my and then when I go to speak to someone in English afterwards my brain can’t think up certain words. Like for instance my sister will be like what’s wrong with you, you literally speak English
It’s like my mind, like when you are growing your wisdom teeth, it’s painful but it’s a natural progression of things. And that’s how I feel about my language learning, like I’m growing in my teeth like it’s painful and it’s weird and I’m kind of in this weird middle place like I have little nubs of teeth, like I can’t really do a lot of shit yet and like I’m in the middle of these two languages in this really interesting way but then when I talk to my international friends, they are like omg I feel that exact same way, and truthfully, most of them are like, I also speak this.. and this… And I’ve had this experience multiple times… And it’s quite affirming…
Back To The Soup…
India: … Are you liking the soup?
Tricia:… Yeah… It’s a little basic…
India: You don’t like the soup.. I told you I was going to make spaghetti and meatballs
Tricia: You did not add the meatballs, you never said that.
India: I know that, I don’t have meatballs. I have beef. I could make it if we had time… I was gonna make past with sauce.
Tricia: Cause this is what fancy people do..they have like they’re soup like
India: They have like round one.
Tricia: We’ve had many round ones.
India: Our bread and our cheese.
Tricia: Yeah
India: Macaroons was round one today. Macaroon?
Tricia: Macaron?
India: Macaron.
Tricia: I have no idea.
Making and Then Deepening Friendships
Tricia: um… we are talking about how incredibly exciting it is to be in a new city, and having people come to you be like, “oh do you want to hang?” But how over time you have become more selective with the people you share your time with and how has that process been because I feel like I am very much in that first beginning zone of like hey do you want to get coffee because I want to form these relationships but that for you, you have transitioned out of that and you are now at the place where you can be like India who do you actually want to spend your with?
India: yeah, it’s kind of hard because my anxiety pushes me to be like say yes to everything every single time so that no one will not want to invite you… So any like little invitation that’s like oh we are hanging out, you don’t have to come cause it’s late… Like no it’s fine that its midnight, i will walk to the club, don’t worry.
I think for me, at least in my own personal experience, i needed to say yes to see all my options which I still don’t feel like I’ve seen yet, meet lots people… At home you are in the same sort of people… But you know you have these routines with these people, you see these people all the time, it is just this very different sort of friendship, i don’t want to say it’s structured but it thrives upon this structure that you are a part of. And so I’m like… It feels very different having more relaxed interactions with people, with people who have very limited information and they are like let’s get coffee. I’ve met some of my closest friends off of bumble friends. And that’s been really fun. And it was cool like look at all these people who are also looking for friends…it’s not just me
Tricia: I’m not alone.
India: so yeah that was very encouraging to see, um.. and then you go on there and …I have my little spiel and I put that in and wait for them to respond and then they are liked “do you want to get coffee” and then I’m waiting. How do you do French friendship? Is it weird to ask if you want to get coffee or is that too forward? Do you talk a long time as friends before… I don’t know that’s what I stress about.
What is Socializing Like In France?
Tricia: What is socializing like here?
India: Everyone wants to go out. And whether that be to like a restaurant, that is typically long, you are talking all before, no one is rushed to order the food. You are not there at the restaurant for the food, you are there for the company and then you happen to be eating while you are there. So I definitely like that culture a lot. I think the hardest part was to see whether tho so people are close friends? couples? Is it super close friends? or is it casual? I was still navigating that part.
But now that I am a little bit more in it. I think grabbing coffee can be more casual. It doesn’t seem stressful the same way like dating and meeting new friends as it does in the United States. When I am here I don’t necessarily feel like I am living in a different world because I still feel every grounded in my surrounding. I still have to make money and still have to wake up on time to get to my classes with my students. I don’t know whether I’ve said this but I am a language teacher. I… uh… all thsoe things still exist in my world, it not a fantasy non real world, but rather I am not confined by American standards on doing things. Like, I see, like French students have different way of going about their studies. In terms of style and fashion. Like there are so many styles here. There is a wide range of clothes and I can express myself in so many types of ways. There’s just so many things. I feel like at home, I am confined to a certain type of way. here, I am not confined by the American way but I also don’t know well enough the French way. So I’m kind of in this like middle spot where I’m just doing things in my own way and a way in which I’m most comfortable which is like really liberation. I’ve just never ever felt that way. I feel like I’m learning this new version of myself in doing these, like sort of basic everyday things, whether it be going to work and doing all that stuff or socializing and or dating or whatever.
So it’s definitely been like a journey and I feel like its been… about the trials and tribulations… it hasn’t always been like perfect. Like y’know you go on a really bad date or like y’know you meet a friend like a bumble friend date or whatever and it’s like really awkward and you guys have nothing in common and you’re like okay well guess we will never be seeing each other again.
India: And you just leave each other ‘on read’ on Whatsapp.
Tricia: But that’s hypothetically speakingggg.
India: Not saying it happened…. twice.
And I feel like you kind of have to be okay with some of those things happening and like honestly, plan for that type of shit. And like you have to be prepared to not have every experience be so glorious and wonderful but I’m prepared to still be and like bring my authentic self to each of these situations that I’m going into, if that makes sense. Yeah, I think there’s something about being okay with failure that I think you just have to learn.
There is something about being okay with failure that you just have to learn. And not every interaction will be like wow that was amazing and I just met my best friend and I’m in Europe now! It’s impossible to have that but… I also loved your point about allowing your city to impact yourself. Because my biggest growth has been when I’m abroad or when I’m not at home or at Williamstown, when I’ve just been able to adventure on my own. And I think its the idea that no one really knows me. And not in the way that I’m going to create a totally new person, but like a I’m going to allow myself to just explore everything about who I am.
How Travel Impacts Self-Expression and Personal Style
And… um… I’ve seen my style has progressed or rather diversified so much since coming to Spain the first time, or so much since coming to Spain now. Even coming to Toulouse, I feel like I wore things that I wouldn’t have worn in Spain.
India: There’s a kind of power in like not knowing anybody but also being in another country and not knowing anybody. There is something of that, that like I’m living in a different reality like a little bit, like a different world. I try not to take it too far, like oh I’m just in France! because I do really think that this is a place I could call home one day like long-term.
I just eel like wow the things I am nervous about or stressed about when I am like leaving the house is more like I’m tired and I have class tomorrow and like if I don’t hear my alarm in the morning, no one’s gonna wake me up. Like that’s the shit.
Its not like oh my god I don’t want to look stupid. Like when I wear this. I don’t think about that anymore. I just feel like as a woman in America, I feel like its just a huge burden has been lifted from me like to not have to think about some of those things anymore. I don’t know. Even like a little thing like dressing up when going out.
Literally French people, at least in the clubs here, you would see some girls wearing straight club dresses and heels but then there was this one guy literally wearing sweatpants, joggers and a shirt and sneakers. And another girl was wearing jean shorts.
Me and my friend were like really fancy, we really did ourselves up and then I was like wow people are really coming as they are. If you wanted to dress up if you wanted to, that’s great. Like you have the complete right to do so and you’re gonna have a great night and if you want to come from work… it was very exciting. Like wow, I could just come as I am. It was exciting.
Questioning Yourself, “Who Am I?” And How Can Family and Friends Help Us Answer This?
Tricia: And you also talked about like prioritizing the self in all of this. And I think sometimes we think of the self as like in, okay, my house or my room is myself and I become some thing else when I’m outside, but I think there is something also really exciting to be like I can present the different parts of myself to the outside as well when I step out of the house.
India: Yeah and I’m learning more about the parts of myself. Like you know I am also not a part to wear make up unless its a serious event. Like I got a new mascara here and it was really popular. And I tried this new funky eyeliner, and this this is not something I would normally do, but like, I wear it and I liked that. And that’s not something… I feel like sometimes when I’m at home I don’t give myself the opportunity to just try things.
Like well people know me to be this person and so therefore, I need to continue to present that version of myself to them. But like now that I guess this may happen really anywhere you go like… if you move to a new city or go abroad
Tricia: or go to college
India: I think that like you just have this opportunity in this new way to try things because people don’t know anything about you before you go to this particular place. I don’t know if I did that in college and I don’t have any regrets… it feels tiring.. but I do think that I didn’t like do a lot of that in college. Like I continued to be the same kind of version of myself, which maybe that’s what I needed to just like function like I know this is safe and so I continued to do this but now I know that I need the opposite.
I feel like there is SO much more I need to learn about myself, that is the most exciting part for me.
Like I don’t know whether your mother has ever said this but my mom recently was like, yeah, you know because like I know my kids better than they know themselves and I feel so-so about that comment but I do actually agree with some parts of that comment because I’m like there are things that like mothers or parents in your life can see about you that like you haven’t even been able to further explore but they see that this facet of your personality, of your style of the ways in which you express yourself.
And for me its interesting because there re things that my parents or other people in my life have mentioned about me before that I’ve never like further explored and so I’m like yeah I guess that’s true but now I’m here further exploring it and well this is like so cool and this is so true, like I don’t know this is like a weird example but like jazz clubs.
I do theatre, I am an actress, I am a singer but I’ve kind of only stuck to theatre and I’ve done some straight acting acting as well. But there is this jazz club and my dad was actually here and he helped me move in. He was here for like five days and we went to this jazz club and you could perform for this jam session night and people could join the band and take different roles so like a pianist can go up… so my dad, I actually told him before we got there that there is this jazz club, there is a chance that I could perform but I probably won’t because I’m gonna be too scared but like whatever.
And he’s like, “India you are like a natural born performer. You’re literally made to do this. You know you thrive on this. You have to do this. I’m gonna be so upset if you don’t do this. Like you literally have nothing to lose.”
Like for me typically, I’m so like blocked. And like I just get so nervous and anxious. And I just can’t see the future, and so I’m like, it won’t happen. I will not do it. And I was like well maybe if you said you are gonna be realllyy upset if I don’t do this then maybe I should do it.
And its like around 12 and I was like I guess I won’t probably go up, and then they were like we are going to switch it up and we are going to have… “India!” And they were like “what are you going to sing?”
It was funny because a lot of French– not all French speakers– certain words like primarily in English, like a song title, they understand it better if you say it in a French accent. And so I went up and sang and honestly, was not my best performance I’ve ever given but I didn’t care. In that moment I was really thankful for my dad who really encouraged me to do this thing that I would have just been like, “I don’t feel like doing this.” And that’s going back to the quote about your parents knowing you better than yourself. I don’t know if that’s always the case but there are aspects that I’m really grateful for that these people in my life can like y’know, point out and help push ne. And now I feel like, because of that, I’m like okay now I’m here and there’s not someone looking at me every day…
I do talk to my mom every day
Tricia: I know, I’ve been in many conversations.
India: … multiple times. But you know there is no one watching my life, telling me you should do this or you should go y’know, no one is encouraging me on The Winding Journey a day to day basis, to do these different things.
The Winding Journey of Self-Love
But I recognize the potential that I have in myself to do these things. And so I don’t know. Like it’s just so exciting getting to know my own self better. I’m just like wow, I think the beginning of my self-love journey… for me that looked like so many different ways in the past.. like oh “self-love means that you take care of yourself and like, you get pampered like a massage or like your mental health was perfect, like you “had your shit together… which felt so distant, super distance and I was just like well I guess I will love myself when I’m thirty… it just felt really unattainable and now I’m at a place where it doesn’t feel like… and now… for the majority of my life, I’ve had very low self-esteem, like I simultaneously had confidence and I was doing things to put myself out there but I had really low, low self esteem and a lot of anxiety about that. And so now its kind of interesting to get to this place where I don’t have all this anxiety about my feelings about the way I am expressing myself, and the things I am doing with my life and I don’t know if I am at this place… I think it will take a lot longer than three months.. but I know I am at “self love” or whether I’ve peaked in terms of self love but I think I am at a place where I can be like “oh I can totally see this” and it feels so attainable now and I have time to be by myself, and take walks by myself, and go to the grocery story by myself, and have these problems by myself, and have these joys by myself.
Tricia: I think in terms of like this journey of like self esteem and like self love, for me, I see my triumphs or like my wins in small things and its mostly when it comes to dancing weirdly enough because I like am not the beessttt dancer.
India: I don’t know what you are talking about.
Tricia: You’ve seen me its amazing. but I remember for instance there are times when I see other people dancing and I look at them and I’m like oh I wish I could do that, like be that free. Its usually the kind of more hipster places where they’re really like dancing so freely and its not methodical, it’s just like letting your body do what it needs to do, right? — [allow your body] to do what it wants to do. But I have found myself like in these moments where I sit down… I remember specifically in DC looking at these people and thinking, “I wish I could do that.” And then like 10 minutes late, I was dancing and like I had that instance in Jaen where there was… because there’s always performers in Jaen and especially during Christmas time and so like I was with my friend and we were both like sitting down just sipping bear and like really enjoying the ambiance and like he [the performer] started playing Enrique Iglesias and we both looked at each other and we were like we are going to dance and beforehand I was like damn I really wish I could be one of those people who were dancing and then boom … and I think that’s a sing of that kind of growth, of that dual self esteem issues and also that stepping forward that I think is done in these quite small ways but are so expansive. and so… like representative of how much we are growing every single day and where we are given challenges to see whether we will take it every single day and I think I see myself take it more and more as I’ve gotten to be who I am.
India: Ugh, I love that. I think that’s such a good example too. Like something that I don’t know, like something that other people like things in our lives that other people might perceive as very small like “oh you aren’t going to dance, its not a big deal” but like “no its a big deal for me.” And then later on you will be faced with other challenges that you will be like “okay, no I know how to face challenges, I’ve done this before. And so then you are prepared to like y’know approach those in this completely different way that is super authentic to you.
I’m not there yet..
Tricia: But you are..
India: I’m saying with my dancing..
Tricia: Okay, she’s amazing at dancing so shut up we are not talking about this, we are moving on. I’ve seen you twerk.
India: The twerking is so-so. You get a little boop boop.
Tricia: It’s not a little bomp bomp.
India: I can’t sustain it.
Tricia: It hurts the lower back. I have a long back everyone… I don’t know whether you’ve ever seen the pictures…its long, it doesn’t have the curvature that some others are gifted with. Its hard. but I have really strong knees though.
India: Alright Meg.
Tricia: But I actually think your story about you singing is that growth, that’s also just an amazing story to have.. but that is also showing how much you are growing everything single day and how much you already have it like in you, that maybe your parents can already see in you and you just need that little push or maybe you already have it, right? which I feel like you do…
India: It is cool to be like hey I have it…
Tricia: I’m a bad bitch.
India: I’m kind of a bad bitch…like that’s so fun…
Learning to Appreciate Alone Time
India: I don’t know I really appreciate… I do find myself… still to this day, like I’m alone in the apartment, like last weekend… I wasn’t doing anything, I didn’t have any for sure plans with anyone because most people had left town and I was like I guess I’ll call so-and-so and as soon as I finish the call with so-and-so I’m like well I guess I’ll call so-and-so and I just find myself calling people from home, and doing all of this stuff which keeps me up really late which is another problem I have which we will get into that later, but like yeah I definitely find that I struggle being alone some time.. like even though I have this apartment to myself I have all of these different spaces to things with myself I find myself trying to distract myself from the fact that I am actually alone and I think I’m excited to sort explore what that alone time looks like.
Um… so yeah in terms of things I want to work on for the future, I am having a lot of accomplishments outside of the home which is really big for me, like those are some of the small things, like things that I wouldn’t think to do in the past that I am able to do, like I’m taking salsa dancing classes that are clearly in French…
Tricia: Not in Spanish? Cultural appropriation?
India: Yikes, like I don’t know that was a new thing that I forced myself to do like I am going to leave my house every Monday to take this class and meet new people, and be in this class, and really challenge myself to learn this new style whatever and so those are my little out-of-the-house accomplishments and now I really want to focus more inward like I do spend a lot of time in the apartment because I predominantly work from home in teaching my classes on zoom and so yeah, I really wanna focus on how can I feel comfortable when I don’t have all of these accomplishments around?
Y’know I’m not faced with all these supper different challenges outside of the house, like how am I looking at that challenge. And I’m excited in a way that I don’t think I would have been otherwise, in a way I wasn’t in quarantine.. like our initial quarantine and I was like I hate being alone and I was with my family for the spring and summer of 2020.. and I really went inward in like a dark way… and it was hard not to because the world was literally falling apart… but at the same time I feel like now, what felt like this challenge that I was like I will never be able to like … like I’m not that kind of person … who likes to be alone … now I’m like I can adapt. I can become a person who is comfortable and confident in being alone in whatever way that looks for me like maybe that doesn’t look exactly… like it doesn’t look exactly how it looks like for the other person but I’m excited for the challenge, for the journey… that’s probably like a longer term one.. but I’m looking forward to it now… and I’m grateful for all the other challenges that I’ve faced that have prepared me for this next one.
Tricia: That was beautiful folks. That was India Henderson, our extraordinaire, the one and only, the beautiful… Tricia De Souza.
CLAPS…
Where in the world 
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