Bittersweet Days

Hello everyone!! It has been a while since I last posted. Not to make an excuse, but times have been tough. Or rather, I should say that times have been bittersweet. I have witnessed the passing of a few elders in my extended family. Although at that time I took it well enough, considering they were all advanced in age, it made me jittery and untrusting of the times. I found myself expecting sad news at every turn. Any unexpected call from a relative, and my first thought is that someone died. I became an anxious person whenever someone fell sick. I realized that this had been a common issue since the outbreak of the pandemic, but I did not know how to handle myself.

After some thought, I decided to apply all the lessons that I have spoken of in my previous posts. I tried being logical in the face of unreasonable fears. I decided to turn to my faith and belief in God to tide over difficult times. I escape reality whenever possible by watching fantasy movies, TV shows, etc. I refused to watch news and current events. I know that it is childish, but I needed a break from all the scary news. I finally decided to put down all my thoughts on paper and get over them because time was not going to stop for me to catch up.

It was not that there was only bad news in the past few years. Many good things or happy things have also happened. This was something that I realized as soon as I sat down to pen my thoughts. It was only that I refused to accept the joys around me and refused to let go of the troubles around me. Another thing I realized was that all the joys and troubles were happening around me, not so much to me. I realized that I needed to be a little selfish and keep the joys while letting go of the problems. I realized that I was sharing others’ pain a bit too much and not sharing their happiness. My pain was basically second-hand pain, so I might as well enjoy the second-hand joy as well.

As I thought about this, I realised that my life was going smoothly enough, and I was just being sad on behalf of others. I thought this was unnecessary. Do I sound self-centered? Maybe, but I need to be like that to be happy. Too many people are getting offended, being sad, feeling emotional, etc., on behalf of others. I felt that I needed to mind my own business, at least for a short while, in order to have any sense of peace. In these bittersweet days, I decided to hold on to the sweet and let go of the bitter; only then can I stop myself from becoming bitter.

So, with this resolution in mind, I decided to welcome the new year. I decided that in this new year, I will concentrate on my mental and emotional well-being before rushing to solve other troubles. I will become strong before I can support others. This has been my new year lesson, and I hope all my readers can find their own positive resolution for the new year. Happy New Year Everyone!! Happy 2024!!