Read This if You Feel Like Giving Up

Life in its brevity often feels burdensome, yearning for us to be free of all the turbulence that stirs up its breaths in our hearts. How beautiful would life be if we let go of pain, anger, sadness, grim! I wish we had built-in programming that would delete all the moments and experiences that stirred catastrophic fires and raged war and kindled and whooshed the fire within us simultaneously! Human minds behold the capability of inventiveness, of loving, of living and yet with so much to be blissful about, we are inherent in our ounces to be boggled about negativity, to be enveloped in the traumatic flashes of our photographic memory. I know it is vital to be grateful for the goodness of life, the light that exists in our strides, the privilege and the beauties that we possess, the existence that we lead is a dream for many, that all consorts to be the gospel truth and cannot be denied. But at the end of every second we spend in this mortal realm, in the most painstaking way I would shout in gallant echoes of the rooftop, it is okay to not be okay!

It is important to be grateful and optimistic about the future and the things that have gone right, but it is humane to cry about things that hurt us, it is a sign of survival if there are things that make us angry. We live in a society that focuses solely on the grandiose gestures of exalted milestones, career successes, promotions, and societal milestones and normalizes the need to be full of glee and charm all the time. Don't get me wrong, it is a moment of pride that people achieve their greatest milestones. I have felt immense pride in my sense of accomplishment, but the truth is that is not my absolute reality. I am not the most successful, the most alluring or the most charming person you will meet.

I have flaws and imperfections, I falter and I make a lot of mistakes, I have my set of bad days and I feel sadness and joy to its core and have faced a lot of darkness which has taught me the vitality of light and hope. It is so necessary to know that sadness and anger are not inhumane experiences, it is what denote that you have the prowess to feel every emotion, so are failure and dejection, just because you have had a bad day or bad month or are going to a phase where life feels heavy, please know that this is your first experience as a human being and it is okay to err, to gravely be mistaken, to say the wrong thing or to be embarrassed, you will be hurt by people and you will hurt people, this is the bitter truth. But with all those experiences, you will learn how to handle yourself with grace, how to be accountable for your actions when you are in the wrong, how to be compassionate with yourself and how to deal with circumstances with newfound wisdom and a greater sense of self.

In no way do I propagate the idea of normalising treating people poorly or hurting people because of your mental health or being hurt. I believe in shedding light on the fact that we all falter as humans, as existential entities walking on their quests for the first time, but then working on ourselves to realise where we are wrong and how we can improve. Perfectionism and idealism of being put together and having it all so glorified and uncomplaining is the root of the misery, I wish we could lean more into the notion of imperfect, messy lives, of not having perfect skin or the best career trajectory or the best apartment or family. How more loving and accepting the world would be! I know that it is a utopian concept that I am writing about in the presence of this article, but the least I can do is be honest about my truth.

The might of hope that transcends waves and runs them through the sands of time,

To make everything fall into place, to forge the beauty of hay when the sun shines.

As this year 2025 has begun, I would not say a new year, a new year me, rather I hope you embrace every scar, every wound, every bleeding morsel of pain, sadness and anger and transform it into peonies of compassion, kindness, love and light, embracing every ounce of your messiness in the chaos of the gift called life that makes you, You!

Love

Hridya