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My Space, Your Space
The quest to carve out our separateness
It’s long been said that we come into this world alone and go out the same way. Despite our seemingly innate desire to come together, we are all separate beings, and as such, seek out our own space, our own place that belongs only to us. Borders, walls, fences, and doors all serve as a reminder of our need for space, a need to separate ourselves from the “other.”
Before we are even born, we are growing inside the amniotic sac inside our mother’s womb. As we take our nutrition from our mothers, we grow and develop into fetuses, and finally into a baby. However, even though we are completely dependent on our mothers for that nutrition and protection, we are inside a separate sac. We are a separate being. We have our own space. We might be connected, but we are not a part of our mother. We will crave and create this space many times in many ways over the course of our lives.
In most families, it is not long before a newborn baby is consigned to the nursery. Some families sleep together in a family bed for a time, but that is generally short-lived, and at some point, the baby is given a space of its own. Through subtraction, so…
