The Reality of Reaching Out

Before you read the piece I wrote, please keep in mind that everyone is different and struggles with a diversity of hostilities every single day. It doesn’t matter what it may be that someone’s going through. Whether it’s “negligible” or “dire” in your eyes, they are all traumatic events to the person. Despite all of us going through different scenarios, the aftermath results in us becoming mentally kindred. Life doesn’t come with a manual on how to properly live because there isn’t one way. We aren’t meant to be given the answers or else it’ll just be too easy. Life’s a learning experience and it is through those moments and people you meet that’ll put you in situations where you’ll have to contend out of the dark. It is through the things you did to get yourself out of that void, the lessons you’ve learnt from the mistakes both you and those around you have made, that’ll allow you to pass it onto others in hopes to alleviate their pain. Life doesn’t come with a manual because you are your life’s manual. No one else’s, yours. Enjoy this piece, may it give you any sense of comfort or relation to it.

Sometimes I wish I was a goldfish inside it’s bowl. Displayed for anyone to see, but unable to reach unless you dive deep. How can one ever know peace when all they do is throw away their heart for anyone to find? This heart isn’t bland, it’s special, it’s one of a kind. So why wouldn’t anyone want it barricaded behind a dome? If only there were a lock and key otherwise no one would enter for free. But if they don’t have to pay to enter your heart, why do they only appreciate you once you’re gone? Maybe it’s because you made it easy. You loved them and expressed it effortlessly that they didn’t feel like they needed to put any time into you. Maybe it’s because they were secretly guilty. Guilty of not being able to produce the love you do, let alone understand how, so they end up distancing themselves altogether. Or maybe, just maybe, they never loved you to begin with. That’s when reality hits.

It sucks when all you want to do is release the weight that you’re carrying to anyone other than the people you create within your mind. Someone real. Someone to prove that there are still good people left in this god-for-saken world. That your made up character’s personalities can be seen in others too, but that thought is also an illusion. To open your phone only to realize that no one’s there, because that’s your job, right? You’re meant to be the messenger. The provider. The wise. They don’t care about you. They only care for what they can take from you. It’s only when that sadness turns into anger that they care. It’s only until that bubbly person they once knew fades away that they’ll listen. They just express their affection once it’s too late. They only love the good sides to you, the bad isn’t worth knowing as it doesn’t benefit them, right? No one cares when you cry, they’re only there when you smile. Because while you were seeing a brightly lit individual who aided you through everything, they were at war with their own mind. They learned to hide away from the source of their suffering by healing those around them. A damaging mechanism that only seeks to increase in its severity.

You never know what someone’s going through behind the mask they wear so ask a loved one how they’re doing today. Ask a friend. A stranger. Anyone. Don’t hold back when it comes to expressing how you feel because ultimately, you never know when you’ll lose that opportunity to. So just say what’s on your mind. Tell your family, your friends, your neighbors that you care about them. But don’t just say it, actually put some effort behind it because we all know actions speak louder than words.