In A World Trying To Make You Heartless, Be Kind

In a world trying to make you believe that it’s better to be an asshole, be nice. Be considerate. Be compassionate. Be the bigger person. Be tolerant. Be stronger than your heartbreak, your past and your pain. Be someone who knows how to love no matter how many times love has failed you. Be someone who knows how to be kind to a world that’s known for being mercilessly unkind.

In a world trying to make you feel like you have to do everything alone, learn how to share. Learn how to give, learn how to surround yourself with people who make you happy, learn how to be a better friend, a better parent or a better partner. Learn how to ask for help or ask someone for advice. Learn how to be someone people can rely and depend on. Remember the heart you used to have before it got broken.

In a world teaching you how to be aloof, unattached and distant, be brave, vulnerable and attentive. Be the one who cares more. Be the one who says ‘I love you’ first. Be the one who tries instead of the one who wonders what could have been. Be the one who knows how to live with a few bruises from getting knocked down instead of the one who’s afraid of getting hurt and misses out on all the fun.

In a world telling you that you can’t have it all, dare to dream, dare to believe. Dare to look at those living the life you’ve always dreamed of and have faith that you can have that kind of life too. Life is difficult but it can also be easy. Life is tough but it can also be soft. Life is unpredictable but it can also be on your side. In a world trying to tell you to look at the glass half-empty, look at it half-full.

In a world trying to tell you to live a lie, live the truth. Life gets easier when you accept yourself and know who you really are; with your flaws and your mistakes and your imperfections. It gets easier once you stop trying to pretend to be someone else because that’s just what the world favors or what people are more drawn to. It gets easier when you stop living according to what the world wants and start living according to what you want.

In a world trying to change your heart, learn how to fight for it. Learn how to keep spreading kindness, learn how to love harder because one thing I know for sure, when this world ends, you won’t remember the days you were cruel or heartless or scared. You’ll remember the times you fell in love, the memories that made you smile, the people who were there for you and the people you moved and inspired and loved along the way. When this world ends, you’ll only remember the love you shared and you’ll look back and realize how pointless everything else was.

Rania Naim is a poet and author of the new book All The Words I Should Have Said, available here.