The Unabridged Version of a Rational Emotional Mind

It’s the last day of Men’s Mental Health Month for the year. I wasn’t meaning to write anything until now. But in the last few days, I saw a couple of my closest men break down and open up to me that I wanted to say something to document this moment and this cause. I am a woman. I cry a lot. I was raised being exposed to a single male influence a.k.a. my father, no brothers or close male friends till adulthood so I haven’t really known what bottling up emotions feel like. Now, that I have grown older, been in close proximity of men with varying heights of emotional walls, I can safely say that I am exposed enough to give my two cents on the matter. So here goes… Dear men of my life (and of the world?), I am sorry you have always felt the burden of protecting and providing for the people in your life that you never got to take a second glance at your own wishes and desires. I am sorry you were raised in a way that prevented the child in you from fully feeling all the emotions a hu...

 This weekend my family went through a major life update and I realized something! You see, I come from a place where emotions are not expressed, the way they show it in popular media. There are no 12 a.m. birthday wishes and celebrations, no hugs and embraces, no ‘I Love Yous’ being said every wakeful moment. What is there, is love... Love in a form that I never realized existed until now. Love in the form of toiling away for your sake. Love in the form of showing up in ways only they can. Love in the form of doing things for us in ways we never expected anyone to do for us. It’s the quiet love. One that does not use elaborate words or gestures to express itself. The one that is consistent, reliable and, ever present. Love that feels like a cool gust of wind on a warm summer day.  I am loud when I love. There are hugs, handwritten letters, random gifts…What happens because of this is that I have a bias towards people who show love the way I do. I am sure all of us feel that w...

 I am home, about to embark upon a journey of a lifetime and life is throwing so many curveballs my way that I could arguably only wallow in self-pity. But this is where I had a call with an elder sister I never had and she gave me the most touché yet often forgotten action I could take when life does not go our way. And that is what I want to tell you today! The act of choosing joy…an active striving to choose things and people and activities that give us pure and unadulterated joy, especially when circumstances are not going our way. This is very different from the toxic-ominous positivity that the world has made us believe in. This is not a covered up illusion, but an acknowledgement that life is shit, but we are consciously choosing joy and in that way, choosing ourselves. Now, how do we really choose joy? Step 1: Acknowledging our circumstances I have briefly mentioned this already. The idea is simple – to take a cold hard look at life and figure out what we can and cannot cha...