“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
In a world that has over 6,000 languages and people of all backgrounds and cultures, it can be hard to find a connection to people who have a completely different way of life than yours. But if there’s one thing that everyone has, it’s a heart. Not just physically, but we have emotions and we react and get upset, or be happy, or excited, stressed, hurt, surprise, fear…etc. Despite language barriers, kindness can transcend these barriers. They can break them down and create beautiful connections between people who may come from a small island to someone who lives in a big city. Kindness is a universal language that people who may not be fluent in each other’s native tongue can understand and feel. Everyone is fighting their own battle that you may not be aware of despite their facade of normalcy on the outside. We can pretend to be okay, but even then sometimes we will break down and hurt a little. But an act of kindness can make someone’s day a little brighter, their fight a little lighter.
Music is a part of my soul that is irreplaceable. The lyrics to the songs I listen to are my mentor in life while also a reflection of how I feel at times. One of my favorite artists, BTS, have a song called Tomorrow with lyrics that reflect pretty accurately how I’m feeling right now.
“I have a long way to go but
why am I running in place?
I scream out of frustration
but the empty air echoes
I hope tomorrow will
be different from today
I’m just wishing”
This is a topic I’ve discussed often in my previous posts, but it’s important enough, in my opinion, that I’ll keep repeating it until it makes a difference, but I feel like these lyrics can not only apply to how I feel but also to the general population as well. I think that society in general has forgotten how to dream and live. We’re just “running in place” when there’s so much we can do and want to do but talk ourselves out of with excuses. But if we do that, then “every single day is a repetition of ctrl+c, ctrl+v” (Tomorrow). As adults, we go to work because we need to make a living and survive. As students we go to school so we can be able to make a living one day and to survive. But how many people do you know are working their dream job? How many students do you know that are actually excited to be learning? The beautiful world we live in can be harsh and doing just enough to get by in life makes living a task taken for granted rather than a gift. It’s not necessarily entirely our fault; it’s also the expectations and pressure society places on us to be as successful as possible. Society has mastered how to quiet our true feelings. But not everyone can be a genius or a millionaire. We are who we are and that’s perfectly fine. Either way, I want you to stop running in place and live tomorrow how you would in your dream world. In the lyrics of Bewhy’s rap Fake Pt. 2, “I don’t want to take recieving life as a present for granted.”
There’s nothing wrong with giving someone a smile who may be having a bad day, even if they’re a stranger. There’s nothing wrong with sharing a seat with someone on the bus because it’s crowded. Even if it’s the smallest thing, an act of kindness as they say, can go a long way. I believe that in general, all of us are compassionate and kind. But there are also times when we could do better. Be nicer. Be more considerate. Be more understanding. Treat others the way you want to be treated. You’ve been hearing that since you were a kid, but if we all tried to live this way, wouldn’t we be able to be a little happier? Have fewer conflicts and experience a lot less hurt inflicted by others? Our character really speaks to the world about how we want to be treated. If we go around and make mean remarks to people, no one will want to treat you kindly either. And so I want you to polish your character. Strive to be a better person. I’m sure that most of us are already lovely and wonderful people, so why not take it one step further? Accept everyone for who they are and discard your prejudices. Become the epitome of kindness and good will.
Natty, “an adjective most often used to describe a person or an article of clothing meaning smart and fashionable” (Google). A bit irrelevant but I really admire whoever comes up with these daily prompts because some of these words I never would’ve thought existed, aka “natty.” But I think this is a great word. Why? Because who doesn’t want to be called smart and fashionable? While you may not particularly care for fashion, I think there is one thing you should have, fashion related, and that’s a power outfit. I don’t know if you’ve heard of a power pose before but it has a similar idea. A power outfit is an outfit that gives you confidence and boosts your self esteem. A power outfit can give you that confidence you need for whatever: a job interview, a meeting in front of the CEO, a school presentation, a speech, first date…etc. A power outfit could be your favorite clothes or your best suit; it doesn’t matter! As long as it makes you feel like you can do anything! While it’d be nice if we could be confident in ourselves all the time, we all experience those moments of doubt and need a little boost to get us moving. And that boost is the power outfit. So if you don’t have one already, go assemble one and then step out into the world and conquer it like the boss you are. 😀
“The most beautiful thing you can wear is confidence.” -Blake Lively
If the world was uniform, it’d be pretty boring in my opinion. If we all looked the same, thought the same, acted the same, our earth would just be eh without the art that is a person’s individuality. It’s really easy to compare ourselves to others that we admire and wish to be like them and that’s fine, but at the same time don’t forget that you have traits that make you unique. There is not a single other person on earth exactly like you and that’s something. There’s a fine line between aiming higher to improve yourself which you might see reflected in others who may have gotten to a further point than you and copying others and forgetting who you are. Like everyone else, there are parts of our self that we may dislike, but in the end they are still a part of you. Maybe you can change it, maybe you can’t. But don’t let it discourage you. Because everyone has flaws and that’s reality. So don’t be uniform. Our diversity is what makes life so beautiful and earth a lovely place to live.
“The woods would be quiet if no bird sang but the one that sang best.” -Henry Van Dyke
The same goes for our society. So go out there and make some noise. 🙂
“Together forever never apart maybe in distance but never in heart.”
This quote is one of my favorites, not only because I like the rhyme, but it’s also very touching. Well I guess you could say it’s a bit cheesy but I like how it acknowledges reality in that people don’t always have to stay right beside each other to be “together”. My family could be living halfway across the world but the distance is nothing when they’re so close to me in my heart already. I know the loneliness that creeps up on you sometimes when your person, whoever that may be, isn’t psychically next to you, but cheer up-they still love you and you still love them. After all, a distance is just an arbitrary number whereas the feeling you have is certain.
If you’re missing your best friend, sister, brother, family, soulmate…etc, sending them this short but sweet quote would definitely make their day! 🙂
Our dreams come from our imagination. Our goals seem to be imaginary. And that’s probably why we tend to not accomplish our goals or chase after our dreams because to us they’re imaginary. Only real in our minds. But I’m here to tell you; make the imaginary real. Bring it to life. You have so much potential in you, but instead of awakening it, you keep in the imaginary world. It just stays as the images and words in your mind. That’s not living life. During those times when you sit down and imagine where you’re going to be in five years, two months, a decade; make the future you dream for yourself real. That’s how you’re going to achieve happiness in life. Last month when I started thinking about creating a new blog, I could envision myself doing it, but I almost didn’t. I almost left it in my imagination and continued on with life. But, I realized that if I don’t make this a reality, even though it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for so long, I’m going to regret it. And my life has been too full of regrets already. My imagination has so many ideas to bring to life into the world, but most of the time they stay as they are-imaginary. But I’m aiming to change that and I hope you will too. Did you want to start eating healthier? Take some art classes? Make that new recipe you found? Don’t just paint an image in your mind of what it’ll look like-go do it!
Like the rambunctious sound of a band.
I’m taking an emphatic stand.
Laser focused like the ones fueled by passion,
This is me, facing injustices and lashing-
out at the world. Hoping that words are enough to
make a difference. Because too few
are heard. Seen. Saved. What happened to the brass of the people?
Let’s be shamelessly bold together.
To fight for our dreams. Our hopes.
Our beliefs. Our way of life. Our family.
To be who we are today, we’ve taken portions of each other. From the people in our lives and perhaps strangers as well. And I’m not talking about physical portions/pieces of other people (which would not be a pretty sight), but the intangible pieces we gain from others. The intangible in this case is knowledge.
Let’s take a seat, close your eyes, and bring on the nostalgia by going back to your childhood. As a child, you didn’t know much about the world. You probably made some mistakes here and there because you didn’t know better. You also didn’t know how do a lot of things like reading, walking, talking, brushing teeth…etc. But we were given pieces of our parent’s/guardian’s knowledge and eventually those pieces developed into a more complex part that makes up who we are. In school, our teachers gave us thousands of pieces of their knowledge. They taught us math, English, a foreign language, history, science, drawing, music, dance…and the list goes on! That continues on in life when we get our first jobs and learn the workings of the world. ^^
But we don’t just gain portions from the people around us. We get pieces of knowledge from all over the world. I could live in America but gain pieces of knowledge from people living in France or Korea or Madagascar. I could have friends living there that teach me about their way of life and culture. Their traditions and the beauty of their language. These pieces then come to make up who I am as well. Even the news about other countries you watch on TV gives you a new piece of a person or people you’ve never met. Isn’t that so amazing? Who we are; it’s made up of the pieces of the world, but also pieces of ourselves that we discover over time as we experience new challenges and grow. Our entire life is made up of portions of other people’s lives. The world is really just one big family, isn’t it? 🙂
This past school year, one my favorite teachers who was going through a tough time imparted some of his advice about life to us. He reminded us that life isn’t all about the grades. Who cares about grades? In the end grades don’t matter. It’s the people you have in your life that do. They’re the ones who continue to stay by your side. He is a teacher I’ve come to greatly admire not only for how he teaches, but also for his real and honest personality. He talks to us the same way he talks to his colleagues and friends and doesn’t sugarcoat anything. After hearing his life advice, I thought about the people I love in my life. I thought about every single person in my life that were not just my friends, but have also become my family. And so, a little story about my friends and I.
I’m not the most social person you’ll ever meet. I’m an introvert who gets anxious speaking to people for the first time and overthinks every single word for twenty minutes. So when I finally found friends that I was comfortable being myself around, I felt like I was being saved. They brought me out of the abyss I was falling in when it felt like I was being consumed by the hurt in my heart. One of the moments that I will never forget is my sweet sixteenth birthday. I had never had a birthday party before which I don’t mind, but my friends took it upon themselves to throw me a surprise birthday party (which I obviously didn’t know about 😉 ). It was held at my best friend’s house and it seemed like a typical get-together with friends to celebrate the holidays. (My birthday is on Christmas XD ). But, of course, any night with friends is not complete without a bit of embarrassment-which is where I found out that it was a surprise birthday party all along. We were playing the game Spyfall in the basement when we decided to take a break. Two of my friends went upstairs to grab something while I got up to use the bathroom. I didn’t realize it but one of my friends next to me tried to subtly persuade me to stay until my other two friends came back. They were not successful because I thought, I’ll be right back anyway. So off I go to the bathroom and while I’m in there I hear footsteps coming down the stairs and people singing. It was the happy birthday song. Then I heard frantic shouts and shushing. Footsteps rushed back upstairs and I came back to where my friends were sitting. Then I hear footsteps come back down again and this time I see my two friends coming down with a birthday cake singing the happy birthday song. I was speechless. No one had ever done anything like this before for me and I was so happy I didn’t know what to say. Everything was incredible and I cannot believe that friends like these exist. It’s a night to remember, that’s for sure. (My best friend was so mad at me for being in the bathroom when they were revealing the surprise but I made it up to her with a hug. ^^ )
About a week later I got their surprise birthday gift in the mail. A big surprise.
This giant teddy bear that is almost as tall as me made me cry. It was the first gift a friend had genuinely given to me. A while back, I was at Costco and I saw a giant teddy bear and I told my best friend about it. I even sent her a picture of me with it showing how it was taller than me. It was a REALLY big bear. And my best friend remembered and while it’s not the same bear, I love this bear all the same. Even more in fact. I’m extremely grateful for my friends. I would honestly not be here today if it weren’t for them. And so I want to truly thank them for welcoming me into their lives and for sticking by my side. I love you guys. ❤
I realize this was a long post so thank you for reading. Which also reminds me that I’ve made some beautiful friends who are fellow bloggers on WordPress as well which brings me infinite joy. Thank you :’)
I hope that if you haven’t already, that you’ll find that one friend, or friends, who have your back always. And if you already have, then go tell them that you love them or show your appreciation for them. It would definitely make their day.