Make Like a Leaf & Dance

Why simply being alive is so difficult for most.

By Emi Published 5 years ago • 3 min read

For the past few months, life has seemed to be....

Yeah, I don't have a word for it.

At first glance I was going to put, beautiful, painful, oh so miserable, and well absolutely full of deceit but that's just not the truth. I've been blessed with the gift of sanity. Or at least I like to think so.

December was a sh*t show for me and resulted in being dragged through the mud over and over again. January was no stranger to this of course but it got better as with all things. I don't think effort can be put into healing or getting better but simply being more attentive to the life you have. This is also easier said than done but we all have our moments. I too have meltdowns.

Like every morning after my person goes to save the world, I sit outside for a good long while over a cup of coffee or tea depending on my level of self-hatred on that particular day. lately though I can say it's been Ceylon black tea steeped to perfection with 2 tbs of condensed milk and 1/2 tsp of sugar. This is an improvement to the standard double expresso with 1 tsp of Truvia in my hospital ridden days. Beverage choices speak louder than words.

I seriously need to stop rambling though.

Life is often viewed as a set of hurdles to leap over. Kind of like a story map or timeline. This has a tendency to make the bed a little harder to get out of and the mud a little thicker to tread through. I finally realized the harder you fight the harder you fall. Life is not a battle to win or a set of problems to solve but a song to dance to. Every note as beautiful as the last regardless of the context. You can't have the highs without the lows my friend.

Have you ever watched trees dance in the wind?

They never remain still or fight the gusts that blows down regardless of how hard the surge. This flexibility is the secret to their longevity. Knowing when to not fight back. It took the longest time to be able to observe everything that occurred around me without wanting to quickly react or defend myself. I can blame it on always feeling as though I had to try and ignore my issues without allowing a simple understanding to just wash over me and bring clarity. There's a Vietnamese phrase I was told as a child that comes to mind.

nước đổ đầu vịt

The literal translation of this is "water poured on a duck's head". So maybe the title should be "Make like a duck and fluff those feathers". In case you didn't know ducks have a natural oil coating their feathers that forms a sort of waterproofing. Water just rolls off with ease! This keeps them from actually getting wet. The water rolling off a duck signifies all the worries and doubts you have just rolling off of you. Never seeping in and sticking for too long. Problems hinder us from blossoming and actually enjoying life. Life's too short to waste away worrying about the past and future. Live in the now always and problems and worries can't trap you any longer.

Another thing I so direly want to talk about is comparison. Flowers don't compare themselves to each other. Any fellow writers can probably relate to the difficulty that comparison brings to your art. Any human can relate to the inner conflict comparison does to your psyche. Any non-human life form can relate to the envy comparison brings to your planet and/or ship. I'm all too familiar with the seemingly incurable misery that comparison brings. It's broken my heart too many times to let it break yours too. Please let go of the expectations and standards you have built from comparison. The truth is nobody has a clue what they're doing. Nobody has the secret key to life. Nobody knows why we're here. If we did, Life wouldn't have its mystique. So please stop chasing success or perfection. I'll let you in on a little secret - It isn't real. Do what brings you happiness. Forget all else. It's a waste of the precious time you will never get back.

If you bend you will never break. Every limit you can think of has been self-created and can easily be dissolved. Please take the time to take a deep breath and let go of the things that bind you. The past is over and the future isn't promised. All you have is today so never stop dancing. The beauty of life is so often overlooked.