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My alienation began at Swanland county primary school circa 1983. It’s funny the things you remember, for I remember it well.

It was taken to the next level around 1991, when I first earned my nickname, Billy Nomates. There began my era wandering aimlessly around our school, going nowhere at all, with no one to call a friend.

I experienced it again in my first weeks at university. That’s how I ended up making friends with a mature student, a decade my senior, who sort of took me under his wing; only it wasn’t a good wing to be taken under. After months of excess in his company, I eventually decided to break away, leaving that life behind.

In truth, I’ve had a lifetime of alienation to some degree or other. Alienation from my peers. For a time, alienation even from my parents and siblings — thankfully, no longer so.

In my youth, these feelings of alienation bothered me greatly. Since then, I’ve just come to accept it as a part of my reality. Though I do not have crowds of friends, I am devoted to the few.

Despite the sadness it once wrought, I can see there were blessings in those formative experiences. If anything, the persistent experience of alienation was the perfect training for my soul, preparing me with the confidence to walk alone.

Alhamdulilah, I would ultimately be granted companionship on this journey. But still, to take that first step, with a family like mine: it wouldn’t have been possible without such extensive training. Alhamdulilah in all circumstances.