The Box

There is a certain beauty in solitude.

It is time we spend with ourselves, figuring out what goes on in this big head of ours.

So many thoughts to unwind. So many feelings to unpack.

People keep confusing being alone to being lonely. That could not be further from the truth.

Being alone is an invigorating experience. It is a conscious choice that we make for ourselves. It helps us dive deeper into what makes us who we are.

Is it scary? Kind of.
Is it worth it? YESSSS!!!!

Being alone with your thoughts and unresolved feelings can be quite overwhelming at first. We get to face the flow of emotions we had kept safely hidden beneath the surface, buried in a pit of despair in some dingy corners of our heart.

Its easy to keep it away from even our self when we are busy, occupied with work and friends and movies and all that jazz. Don’t get me wrong, its a perfectly reasonable way of dealing with emotions. In fact, sometimes it is absolutely essential to live in the moment and not think about what makes us suffer.

So we sing and dance to the tunes of this world, and make merry with our surroundings. It helps ease the pain. It makes us reconnect with our self, be free and be happy.

Eventually, though, we need to heal. And it is not possible to heal without looking inside and opening the box we have been dreading. Introspection has become a buzz word these days, I know, but its true. We need to reflect on what has been, what can be and how we feel about it. We delay the process, keeping the box locked with chains. We fear what we may find inside. We think that it will wreck us. Hurt us.
And so, like ripping off a band-aid, we open the fabled box.

And, umm, its lighter than I remembered it being? Am I seeing this right?

The box is still full of everything I pushed and locked away, and yet, now it seems easy to carry. Its not a burden anymore, but a revelation into my own psyche. It is almost cathartic to process everything that has happened.

Maybe all I needed was time. The contents of the box never changed, but it was me who became stronger. That’s why every single quote out there on love and life and motivation and everything under the sun asks us to “Give it time”.

It sounds so simple, and yet, it is infinitely effective.

All we need is time. More specifically, we need to give our self the time and space that we crave from others. We hold ourselves to a higher standard, but maybe we forget that we are human too. We make mistakes, fall down, get back, stumble and fall, and sooner or later, we will stand on our feet.

So we do it all over again. There’s a new box now, and we keep piling things inside it until this too becomes too heavy to carry.

And we work on ourselves to become strong enough to hold it in our hands and release the pain that has been stored for too long.

And on and on it goes.
All we need is time!

– J

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