By Mehreen Mushtak (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)
The most beautiful yet taken for granted gift we have is life. Life is made of so many strands that are strongly intertwined together which make everything perfect. The strands are our family, confidence, health, wealth, friends, knowledge, skills, values, and the list can go on and on. But when do we realize the value? When the strands start unraveling. It definitely hurts when one strand is taken away in an instant; and we wish for a lot at that point. Imagine losing someone close to you, do you regret that you didn’t have more time? Or do you cherish the numerous memories you made together? This is definitely a difficult situation to get over, and it takes great efforts to hold all the strands together.
From the extreme scenario, lets move to a much lighter one, which we all face. Every time you get flu, you miss the basic of breathing with your nose. It starts feeling like a luxury at that point and you promise yourself that after your flu goes, you will value the ability. I’m not sure if it really goes that way after a few days though until the flu comes around again.
Every individual have different strands, and each strand could be of a different length, thickness, color; you name it. Picture your life as pieces intertwined ropes; all vary based on the values and importance you have placed for each factor. Won’t that help you balance out your life? Or identify any imbalance? No one is perfect and it is only you who fully know yourself, if you don’t, no one will.
A few basics I would follow to have a strong rope with numerous strands intertwined are to draw it first. It may not sound important but do try it, you will be able to piece a lot together, discover areas abbot yourself that you didn’t know before, create balance in the chaos of life today, and most of all, be grateful. Losing a strand is okay; many factors are beyond control. Just try to stay strong and tighten the remaining strands. You wouldn’t want to have loose ends, would you?
[Image Source: https://borderless.teamlab.art/th/ew/way-of-the-sea-colors_flying/ ]
