Iron Man and the Unicorn
So, that’s 2022 done, I suppose. Bring on 2023! No, really.
2022 was a turbulent year for me, to say the least. With a new job, a fantastic job at a great company I didn’t could exist, I was finally on my way to… well, to wherever I was going to go. And then I wasn’t.
The job was still amazing, the company still great, but my living situation changed. Lost my apartment in Reykjavik, and made the decision to move back to Hungary. Temporarily, mind you. There’s a reason, many reasons actually, for my not living here. But figured I could tough it out for a short while, “eat crap for two years so you can eat caviar for the rest of your life,” as Gary Vaynerchuk said.
And then things… happened. Or, rather, love happened.
What started (or continued) as a life lived alone, pursuing my own goals and whims, ended with planning a future with another person in it. It’s a stark shift.
I’m not good with people. Never really was, personable as I can be, but the last few years exacerbated just how much an introvert I can be. Being in an environment that accepts, supports, and encourages people to be who they are, coupled with a pandemic and lockdowns, made me more of an introvert than I ever was.
I’m not saying that changed. I’m still who I am, and my energy is still exhausted pretty quickly around people. I need space, need to live inside my head or at least within boundaries in safe distance from others. It’s precisely because of this that this relationship is shockingly new.
Being with her doesn’t deplete me, or much much slower. Often times it even recharges me. I feel adventurous, trying out new things and thinking in ways I didn’t know I was capable of.
Neither of us really know where we’re going, but we’re pretty confident in wanting to go there together. That’s a new feeling for me.
And still I remain myself, just that my life is a lot more focused. What I do, what I can do, can enable so many things — and I often struggled with channeling it. But with another person in my life, building something that goes beyond me, cuts out much of the procrastination. I feel more creative than ever. And not just creative, but psyched about doing the work, not just daydreaming about what it’s going to look like when it’s done. I’m more organized. I’m more disciplined.
I’m into Iron Man, and she’s into unicorns. In a lot of ways we’re so much alike: same type of goofiness, same level of passion for things. Differently expressed and aimed, but still the same dynamic.
Iron Man and unicorns aren’t two things you’d normally associate with each other. Neither are we. There are so many reasons our relationship shouldn’t work, and yet it does. There are so many ways it wouldn’t work, but it does. Against all odds, arriving from out of the blue, we found each other.
I told her that 2023 will be our year. And I believe it even if I don’t exactly know how it will be our year. The emphasis is on “our,” which felt both completely out of character and thoroughly natural to say, it prompted me to write this post. It perfectly embodies our relationship. Sometimes, things just happen. Let them.
Happy new year and a great 2023 from Iron Man and the Unicorn!
