A LIGHT YOU’RE BLIND TO
A lampshade fulfills its purpose in the absence of light but yet in the presence of it, provides us with an abundance of radiance.
But-
A lampshade that’s not being used to its purpose in a dimly lit room is a spark that's being thrown away.
Let that sink in.
A person’s potential can be obscured by the dark but like the stars, it is always there. Stars remain masked in the daylight but don't exude their radiance until night takes over. That’s an astrological phenomenon. But in a literary sense, it's also a chapter of life. There will always be something that hurts you, that makes you redirect your personality, that may get you to swallow the toughest pills, that will make you lose your belief in things you once romanticized about, that will make you think to yourself, “my life is over” , that will make you regret every single decision you made that brought you to your new normal. Those dilemmas are the darkness that takes over. You may not believe me in the midst of chaos, but that darkness will be the best thing that ever happened to you.
Accepting a new normal is never easy. Just as altering a personality will never be easy. It’s like molding what you once were to what you feel like you should now be. It's like filling a void within you but not knowing what belongs in there. In our lifetime, there will always be something that might get you to learn how to walk all over again. And there is nothing wrong with that. Because the truth is, there is never a milestone for personal growth. The importance lies within the intention of building upon it. Ever heard of the saying that 'Rome wasn’t built in a day?’ Growth is a lot like that. You fail to see the progress when the building process seems minuscule and rather underdeveloped. It may take a while, a constant cycle of trial and error for the scaffolding to come together and for the framework to align. But once built, it takes more than just a storm to completely tear it down. That right there is your new normal. Stripping your worth away over an experience that hurts you is the biggest mistake you could make, solely because that’s a lost opportunity in disguise. One that allows you to mold that hurt into the person you soon will grow to be proud of.
To nurture is to empower
And-
To empower is to grow.
The more time you spend nurturing your value
Despite the dark,
The more inviting you become of the light.
Mine went a little like this-
She doesn't believe in love
But she believes in its goodness
She doesn't trust
But she believes in humanism
She doesn't open the door
But she hears the knock
She feels the pain
But she laughs at it instead
She doesn't antagonize the darkness
But because it brought her to light
Darkness that consumes you is darkness that will mold you. And maybe at first you may not notice it. In fact you may not notice it at all amidst the chaos. There is beauty in darkness but with the right perspective.
Notice how in a dark room, you naturally find yourself more attracted to the light coming from the lampshade across you. You notice it more because of the dark that surrounds it. It’s a lot like the personal experiences in your life. You recognize the pain or relive the hurt because of the darkness that consumes you. That’s natural and that’s okay. Because at one point, you considered that aspect of your lifethat darkness to be light or in simpler words, happiness. Hurting over something that was not caused or inflicted by you is a type of pain you have every right to feel. I say that because you will be the one to mend it. If you tripped over your shoe onto the concrete and had a 2 inch deep laceration, you have all the right to hurt over it. Because you felt it. It is that simple. No one else gets to dictate what you feel and when you feel it. If you have heard otherwise, I want to tell you that is absolutely okay. But just as you have the right to hurt, you also have the responsibility of mending it. You get to nurse the wound to ensure it’s healing. But if left careless, you subject it to the potential risk of infection that will have you hurting more. A basic concept in medicine yet a powerful lesson of life.
We live a life that’s overwhelmed with experiences. Except, there will be some experiences you never signed up for but were assigned anyway. Make peace with it. I can vouch that it won't be easy but that is where you want to be. You want to accept the situation authentically for what it is, what it took, how it happened, and where it left you before you let the reminiscence come along. Because what you look back on then is a memory that was curated by reality and not an illusion. I am not saying you shouldn’t look back on things that hurt you. In fact, I am telling you to let it hurt you. Letting the reality hurt you will be the reason you achieved a new normal you only dreamed of. So the next time you find yourself confronted by a new normal. Ask yourself: How proud will I be a year from now with my spark being masked in a dimly lit room?
