I’m in a glass box and everyone I’ve ever known and everyone I’ll ever come in contact with is surrounding the glass box. I can see and *hear* what everyone is saying. I see them all mingling with each other, sharing stories and jokes, getting to know each other, and I want to get in on the socializing too. It looks fun. People can see me. They want to invite me in on what they’re doing, so they come up and start making conversation. I start to add on to what they said, sharing my thoughts and experiences, but the more I speak, the weirded the faces they make. They leave. And I’m left with the feeling of confusion. It happens again. People come up, wanting to include me in the conversation, I share, they give uncomfortable physical cues, they leave. And I realize something. I can hear them. But they can *only* see me. No matter how much I speak, how loud I get, how charismatic I try be… they can’t experience it. The glass box is limiting the way people experience me, and inadvertently, changing the way people perceive me. Less and less people come up and include me in their conversations because those who’ve experienced me already, have already told others how I don’t contribute anything to the conversation. Eventually they stop coming. And I’m left only looking and listening with envy. In the glass box. Alone.