“Experience your pain. Embrace your silence. When the time feels right, find your way back to your words — and write.”
― Sandra Marinella

When life seems like a walk uphill, we need all the energy we can muster to make that climb. Hope gives us that energy. But what if you begin to lose your grip on hope?

Creativity heals and helps pave our way through life, making it bloom with hope. I always loved to read, write and paint, but I never truly experienced this power of creativity until I began to take my creative pursuits seriously. We often say that life comes in our way, preventing us from doing what we love. But life always happening. We’ve just got to find our way around. Who decides but us, when to pause and take a breath, when to take that step?

Every time I create something that I put my soul into, the feeling of elation can only be compared to being absolutely alive at that moment. One of the most important things I’ve learnt during this pandemic is to keep that feeling as stable as possible by doing what I love and always believe in the power creativity holds- easing our mind, soul, and keeping us grounded. Isn’t that something we all need a little more lately?

It has been difficult for all of us to only focus on the good when the world is being engulfed in a storm of terror. On many occasions I found myself dazed and out of focus, losing track of time and reality, just dragging myself through it all. I knew I had to shake myself out of it, recentre my thoughts and rejuvenate my mind and soul. What helped me was to take a moment and picture that feeling of being absolutely alive, feel and relish it. And like the clichéd saying goes, when you really want to do something, the universe conspires to help you do it. Choosing creativity everyday has helped not just my mental health, but kept me sane and not lose my cool through the many times I’ve felt battered with flares of nerve pain. It gives me solace to know that no matter what, if I channelize my energy into creating something, that struggle is worth it.

I remember a quote from Star Trek, when Captain James Kirk, feeling a little lost asks,

“How are we gonna get out of this one, Spock? We’ve got no ship, no crew. Not the best odds,” to which Spock says,

“We will do what we have always done, Jim. We will find hope in the impossible.”

So, I decided to do just that because someday in the future if I am stranded and battling with myself, I can look back at what I created and remember what I’ve come through, what I am capable of and tell the story of when words sustained me. So, tell me what makes you feel absolutely alive?

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This post is part of Blogchatter Half Marathon and Cause A Chatter – Mental Health Talks