If I asked you to pick one thing from your room that describes something about your life, what would you show me?

On the first day of one of my classes, the professor asked all of us to do this. We had three minutes to look around and choose one thing. Anyone who knows me knows that I keep a lot of objects in my room. So, the task of picking only one was extremely daunting. At the three-minute mark, I found myself sitting back down in my seat with an object a painting in my hands. We were asked to explain what we had picked and why.

I started painting a couple of years ago and it has become a passion that gives me the freedom and comfort to forget about everything happening around me. The painting I chose was one of my first paintings. It was a painting of Stitch sitting down on the grass looking at a butterfly. The reasons why I had picked this painting were about more than my passion for painting. My older sister is one of my best friends and one of our favorite movies is Lilo & Stitch. The movie also has one of the most famous quotes, "Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind." In the end, this painting represented my passion, the relationship with my sister, and the importance of my family.

People went around sharing their objects and the meaning behind them. I was surprised to see how much one can learn about others through one object. What may have seemed like a meaningless object to an outsider was one of the most important things that the person owned. We often dismiss things owned by those around us as simple, meaningless, or disposable. We can be so focused on the world and our lives that we can forget about the memories or emotions that we attach to the things around us. It can be nice to take a moment to remember that our belongings can bring happiness and calm in times of stress.

I am not trying to sound like Marie Kondo and tell you that everything you own is meant to bring you happiness. Since we have to spend most of our time inside our homes, it can be helpful to look around the room and find one thing that reminds you of something, someone, or somewhere.

So, I ask you again, if you had to pick one thing from your room that describes something about your life, what would you show me?