I left the Midwest feeling like, "People are small-minded, they don't want to ask questions, they don't want to think out of the box." Some of that was true.

Because I can isolate and be a bit of a loner, [my ideal] is finding some sense of community where I'm one of many and where my skills are equally as important and valuable.

Sometimes people think, "You don't get to have it all, you don't get to be happy, life's a struggle," but what if it's not?

Whether I'm a hero or a zero doesn't really matter. It's all perception.

I'm 33, my generation, when I was young, we'd go out into the woods for the entire day and come back for dinner. I was definitely a kid of the '80s, who was out and about.

For a long time I wanted to be special and to stick out amongst the crowd. Something I yearn for now is to be one of many.

I was toying with the idea of ambivalence a lot. It's something I work on, not being so invested in outcomes and being more engaged in the process of my life.