These days we are so polarized with everything going on in the world, it’s hard to not be affected by all the negativity. Here’s why I’m so thankful to be in America.

🎉 Happy 4th of July, everyone! 🎉

This past year has been one of the most transformative of my life, and I’ve been so blessed to be able to travel around and enjoy life despite everything going on. I feel that sometimes we get so caught up in the negativity in the media, with politics and so much other crap that we forget how truly blessed we are.

Being able to travel around the country, meet real people with real lives, completely separated from all the noise we are told to listen to and focus on, was such a blessing for me. I met the sweetest, kindest people in this country from all walks of life, races and cultures, that really showed me we are not so divided and separated from each other as we think.

I’m so grateful to be able to live a life that enables me to get out of my bubble and explore this country and people and experiences firsthand. This is a beautiful country, with so many hidden gems, incredible sights, nature, and different landscapes and topography in every state. It has kind and caring people who live off the land and will invite a perfect stranger to their home for dinner. This happened to me on multiple occasions.

The USA is full of natural beauty with countless adventures and places to explore. I've only just scratched the surface. It’s also full of kind and caring people. People who invited me to their homes for dinner, who jumped at the chance to help donate to my Ukrainian friend in need, who offered me places to stay when I returned from my travels and didn’t have a space of my own.

We are not as divided as the media and politics want us to think. We are not so different. We are not one side evil, one side good. No person is fully good or fully evil. We are incredible human beings that are complex, dynamic, kind, and caring, but also emotional, irrational, and irritable. We are all so different but yet, the same.

I truly hope that each one of you get to experience the true beauty both in nature and with each other. It's a wonderful country with so much opportunity and magic, you just have to choose to see it. It's out there, because I'm experiencing it now. So have a chat with someone today. Connect with an old friend, smile at the stranger in the supermarket, appreciate the sun over your head and the food you eat.

Happy Independence Day, America. Thank you for allowing me to build a beautiful life here after escaping the horrible abuses from the cult I grew up in. Thank you for giving me a place to build a home and allowing me the opportunities to go on life’s endless adventures. I honor you, I thank you, and I honor the ancestors that fought for their freedoms to allow me to live this life.