This Is How You Live With Sadness

Remember the first time you ever made a friend. You were too shy to approach the kid that lives in the apartment down the street but you still took the courage. You asked yourself if it is that easy to get a smile in return. As a kid, you wondered if people reflect you or you reflect them. Either way, you got yourself someone whom you can go to the same school with and eat lunch together; someone to play with after doing homework. It was great until it was time for them to look for a new home. You were left alone one summer and you knew then the beauty of shadows.

Remember the first time you lost your first cat in the field. It was the place where you used to chase fireflies; the place showed you how things shine brighter in the dark. It was the place that smells like home—petrichor. It was home until it was time to give up looking for the white fur amidst the greens. You were left alone with the thought that when you lost something, you lost it forever.

Remember the first time you had your high school diploma. You were never a good student but you were not bad either. You enjoyed, learned and have grown during your early teenage years and you think that’s what matters. You were dreading to leave this chapter of your life but you were ecstatic to start a new one. It was the day you anticipated until your parents argued that your father decided not to go. He did not see you march and you walked up to the stage while holding back tears. You were left feeling alone looking at these happy faces; it taught you how to fake it until you make it.

Remember all these moments that made you feel alone because they are the things that made you strong. Remember all these moments and know that you will have more of them but also remember that you are more equipped now than you were before. You survived it all then and you will survive it again.

There are two ways to live with sadness: let it hold you down at night, crawl with you in your bed and envelops you in its warm but dark embrace then let it push you up in the morning as you crawl out of bed and live your life. Sadness should not stop you; it should make you thrive even more—and you will. You are bigger than your sorrow. These are just tears and you are the damn ocean.