To Thine Own Self, and Millions of Generations Before, Be True.

Have I ever had an original experience?

Yes and no.

As thought daughters do, I did some contemplating over winter break about the question of original experiences. 

How unique are we and our experiences? I’m not so sure.

Let me present you with both cases. I’ll let you be the judge. 

Side One: “I’ve never had an original experience.” 

It’s a phrase we see a lot on Tik Tok. Someone posts a video about their horror story with the Cinnamon Challenge, timed multiplication facts and corny iMovies – these are NOT original experiences. 

These are similar to ACTUAL universal experiences as well: love, loss, betrayal, hope, nostalgia, etc. These transcend any sectors we place in society. 

In one sense, it’s comforting, especially for negative emotions. No matter what I’ve been through, there has got to be SOMEONE who has dealt with the same thing.

Denied from your top choice school? Me too. Had a bad therapist? Me too. Get carsick? Me too (and so do 1 in 3 adults). 

There are people who have been through a similar experience who you will NEVER meet, whether they are 100 years younger or older than you.

So, no. You probably haven’t had an original experience. I think there’s beauty to that. 

In a society shrouded by competition and individuality, which can be wonderful at times, deep down, we are not so different.

There’s rites of passages and emotions that inexplicably tie us together, even if we are thousands of generations or miles apart. 

Society suddenly feels a bit closer knit.

Side Two: “YOUr soul is an original experience.” 

Now, call me an iPad kid, but I started on this internal ‘debate’ of original experiences by watching a Tik Tok. 

It’s a girl using the “which do you prefer” filter with about 10 rows of scales such as dogs to cats, sweets to savory, heels to sneakers, etc. 

I now have it both reposted and favorited. 

It reads:

“I love how every person’s answers are different, idk why it’s kind of heartwarming. In a world where we feel we’ve never had an original experience, we’re all still snowflakes, each unique, never to be replicated.”

@jules

She has a point! 

There are many other people who, like me, prefer fruits over vegetables. But the number decreases when they also have to prefer spring over winter, tea over coffee, music over movies, wine over beer, and flowers over succulents. 

Yes, there are people out there, but with my exact notches on each scale? Maybe, but probably not. 

I am unique and I am not to be replicated. 

There will never be another daughter of Eric and Maribeth Fisher. There will never be a person who had my major first. 

There will (probably) never be another kid who camps at Letchworth every summer and lives in New Jersey but also goes to school in Olean, NY and also has a usual order of soft pretzels at Applebee’s (plus the other 1500 identity markers that make me, me). 

These creatively, and interconnectedly, make me who I am. All of these intricate pieces work together at the same time to make up the probable one and only Claire Kathleen Fisher. 

So, the question: Have I ever had an original experience?

Yes and no. 

Like most things in life, there is not a definitive answer. As I get older, I give these questions the grace of nuance. Two things can be true at once. 

While I love to be uniquely me, I’m not so unique that I’m alone. And neither are you. 

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