Feel Good Friday – Encouragement to Find Out Where You Came From

Hi everyone and welcome to Friday! We made it!

I know that weekends are meant to be a little bit more fun and relaxing, but this weekend I find myself wanting to know more about who I am.

Well, I know who I am, but I want to know more about where I came from.

I recently finished reading All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung. The memoir is based around the years Nicole Chung spent looking for her birth family. It starts with the feelings she had when she was a kid; being raised in a predominantly white neighborhood to white parents and not knowing a heck lot of where she came from. As the story unfolds, we get to see that Nicole Chung does find her family and along with it, generations of family history she could have never received if she didn’t look for them.

And I found myself thinking about how happy I am to know where I come from and even celebrate some of that culture. I don’t think I would be the same person if I didn’t know. I think I might even be less than I am now.

I’m always a promoter of finding yourself; the anatomy that makes up who you are and the people that made you you. I know that I was born and raised Korean American. I love searching through my Korean heritage and falling in love with the people and culture. I also love that my husband knows where he comes from and has had family traditions passed on to him as valuable as the color of his eyes and the texture of his hair.

I wonder sometimes if people take pride in the culture that raised them. Do they know where their family is from? Even if you’re a billion different countries, at least you know where you’re from.

Being able to know yourself and where you come from is this amazing journey through culture and significance. You can find out so much of yourself through the countries your ancestors may have come from. With new technology and DNA screens, you can easily do a DNA test to find out where you’re from and other little tidbits. I love that these tools are readily available for us to find out who we are, where we come from, and what to celebrate.

Celebrating culture is super important to me too. While I may forget a random holiday in the middle of the year, I always know New Year’s Day is reserved for family. We bow, eat lucky foods, and wish each other a happy and safe new year with many lucky moments. My husband loves to celebrate his Irish and German heritage even though he’s a few generations in America. I always try to make some Irish eats and tried my hand (and failed) on some German foods too. It’s always fun to dive into those cultures even in a foodie way.

So that’s what I encourage you all to do this weekend. Even if it’s one thing or a whole festival of things, take a moment to find out who you are, where you come from, and how you can celebrate that culture in your family. You might find yourself trying out a new tradition or even learning that there’s more to you than meets the eye.

Happy weekend,

Simone