Beauty in the Darker Emotions
Man has it been a year filled with emotions as 2016 nears its end. This has by far been one of the most unpredictable, unstable years in the modern era given the amount of grief and shock that has come about. For me personally, it hasn't been a year that I look back at too fondly, especially towards the latter part of it. But as with everything else, I always tend to find the little sliver of hope that comes from the bad times, and oh was this year one not to overlook.
I think one of the most beautiful things I have heard in the multitude of interviews that I watch in my spare time is the idea of looking at loss from a more cyclical perspective instead of such a linear perspective. This year, we lost a lot of great figures in global society, such as Muhammad Ali, Prince, and Alan Thicke to name a few, and witnessed some tragic events, such as the Italian earthquake, Istanbul Ataruk Airport bombing, and Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense's airplane crash. It brings great sorrow to the human heart when these kinds of news are brought up in the morning as it greatly affects each and every one of us in going about our daily affairs. Fortunately, the global population has grown tremendously from these sorts of news in terms of how they go about reacting to them in a full fledged wave of support and remembrance.
From all of these global tragedies, I have been able to extract a great deal of learning from them to apply to my own personal dark/tragic moments in life. I used to once think that loss and tragedy were things that were not supposed to readily occur until the last stage of one's life. Unfortunately, I quickly learned that that is not the case in life; it would honestly become quite boring if things went like that I realized. I've started looking at the way in which tough, sad times further add color to the canvass that is known as life's course.
It's a sad thought to think about but I once heard in a movie that "Every day, life kills us a little, a bomb will just kill us once." Now please don't take offense to this quote at all without at least considering the context in which it was said which can be found by watching the full movie here. I do, however, have to agree with the high level thought that is put behind those words. Each and every day, especially during this past year of 2016, life has been slowly eating away at the very essence of warmth that the human race embodies. It's the strong ties towards victories and rewards and everything that glimmers that makes the pain of all the losses bring even more anguish. But through it all, there is still a shining light that we can all take away from it that helps better serve ourselves individually as much as it does communally.
Going back to the idea of looking at loss in a more cyclical nature, it is interesting to see how the rebirth aspect in our own souls comes into play following the reaction to loss. It shapes and colors the new face and persona going forward, with both good and bad possibly coming out of it. Through the shedding of the old self, there is a new realization of self and meaning that once could not be imagined without the darker, colder times that come every so often. Though I've seen it go both ways, I've seen the end product of one enduring through hard times of pain and despair come out even better, more composed, and more focused towards the directional pursuit.
For me, it has been a tough year in 2016 and tough last few years, but I don't wish for it to have been any better since everything I was able to take away from it has brought a new freshness and ease into my life and where I am going forward. It's easy to get tied up into the dark whirlwind that comes and tries to suck you in - I definitely know the feeling and strong pull inwards it can have on you. It is the beauty in seeing how much more you can withstand NOW than you could before and that makes all the difference.
My uncle once told me, "If you want to get the most out of everything, you have to be willing to die a little on the inside every now and then." As a naive little kid when he told me that, I laughed at the thought and just brushed it off like he didn't know what he just said. Little would I come to find out many years later the reason why he said that and why he said it exactly the way he did. I only wish I could talk to him about what he told me on that warm summer evening back in 2004 but 2016 has been all too cruel to us all. I'd just want him to know that I understand everything he meant by what he told me when I was just 7 years old and cannot thank him enough as I embark upon my third decade of life.
I never thought things would turn out so drastically different as they have these past few years, especially this year in 2016. It feels as if everything good came to a slamming halt and left an awful taste in everyone's mouth. Thankfully, it will be time to turn the page on this chapter in just a few days and everyone will be able to experience their own rebirth and shedding of their former self. I just want to leave you all with this: cold darkness is no easy place to deal with, whether that be something personally inside of you or something external that affects you, but it is a humble reminder of why there is light and warmth in each of our lives for the majority of it. Embrace the darkness my friends from this past year as the light is about to shine brighter than ever I'm sure.
"Success is not a good teacher, failure makes you humble." - Shahrukh Khan
