Do kindred spirits know each other upon first sight?

I've been lying awake for several nights thinking about the connections I've made and the ones that stuck.

To be truly honest, I occasionally envy girls who have their girl squads who always "have your back". Because even in troubling times, I find it difficult to pick a person to share my thoughts with.

Post-uni with fewer and fewer friends around me, I find it even harder to make connections and stick with them. Sometimes, I really feel like I fail at being a friend - I don't take initiative, I'm not "fun" enough, people feel that I judge them... Some days I feel like I'm just tagging along following others around doing the stuff they like doing. Maybe to others, I'm needy, all too dependent, or just invisible.

It's feeling all of this which makes it even more precious when I find a kindred spirit.

Several days ago, I was sharing with a friend that when people get curious about me it makes me curious about them in turn (and mostly feel awkward too). And my reasoning was that it's because "I am always invisible to people". While he said that it was quite a stretch to say no one ever notices me, I mean more of no one ever notices me as a person. To be perceptive enough to see past my shell and want to know what I'm like on the inside.

Kindred spirits are like this -

They see you

and they reach out to you

knowingly unknowingly

Because they are curious

about the things kept quiet

and the endless depths to explore

Maybe of things that you both know

Maybe of things that you both feel

Maybe of a past interlinked

Maybe of a future possible

They will go lengths for you

just to get to know you

Because they know

if and when you find one

you have to keep them close to your heart

because kindred spirits are like

one in a hundred

times hundreds more human connections

And you'll never know when you'll meet another

//

Here's to kindred spirits whom you recognise upon first sight

and will always see the best and the worst in you,

never tire of knowing more about you

even if it takes a lifetime

Thank you, kindred spirits who've crossed my path. May our conversations never run dry. And even if we are apart, may we be able to pick up where we've left off, always.