Life by Medha

Sometimes it feels like it’s too much. Like I’m swimming for hours without a chance to truly breathe. Like I’m drowning. Like if I did something right for once, I would be okay. Like I ‘m never enough. 

I mean what’s so special about me? 

Yes, I ‘m taking 5 APs and 1 DE this year, but there are people I know who are taking 10APs—just in their junior year—and acing them all. I ‘m nothing compared to them. 

Yes, I ‘m an officer in one club, but there are people who are the presidents of 10. Yes, I’m in Varsity track this year, but there are others who are not only varsity athletes but nationally recognized ones. Who am I next to these giants? 

I‘m nothing. 

An atom.

Insignificant.

But, everyone feels that way too. As a matter of fact, according to the World Health Organization, approximately 85% of people worldwide have low self-esteem. That means 7.02 billion people world-wide, if not more, feel that they are not enough. 

So, are you really that different?

This issue is global; it even affects those who we think are more than enough. People who have made a difference and continue to do so. People whose names echo throughout our lives. Emma Watson. Sonia Sotomayor. Albert Einstein. Even they suffer from imposter syndrome. 

So, if the very person that identified the theory of relativity feels that he is not enough, is anyone else? The very people that we worship struggle with feeling inadequate and alone. If these giants feel the same as you and me, maybe we are enough. 

Life is uncertain, but there’s one thing I‘m certain of: I’d rather know that I’m enough and be ignored than feel less than and be worshipped.

Still, sometimes, it gets too much. Sometimes, it feels like I CAN’T BREATHE. The pressure and self-doubt become a black-hole sucking me into despair. Time slows down. 

But, there! I see it! 

Around the black-hole is a ring of light—the photon ring. 

So, I wonder. If this black-hole is the end, why does it have a halo? What does that mean? That’s when it dawns on me, right before I reach the point of no return. Right before my confidence fails. 

There is always a light shining though shrouded by total darkness. 

But finding the light is difficult. Thomas Edison discovered that “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” 

So, don’t be that person. 

Get back up. 

Keep going. 

Ok, ideally, it sounds easy to keep going. In reality, some things are easier said than done. 

So you don’t get back up. So life knocks you down. That just means you‘re living it. 

Because living life means falling far and rising even higher.

If the black-hole breaks you down, you can build yourself back up. 

Stronger. Smarter. Better. 

Think to yourself: If the black-hole of my thoughts can shatter me, then I can build myself back up. I can conquer myself. So, what does it matter that I fall again? I can reengineer myself to be better. I can conquer the world. 

As it is said in the Bhagavad Gita, you are your best friend and your worst enemy. 

You. 

Yes, you and ONLY YOU have the power to control yourself—to change yourself. So, wield that power wisely. Because if you can master yourself, there is nothing and no one in your way—you are UNSTOPPABLE.

Don’t forget. The light is all around you; you just need to have the strength to look for it. The might to find it. The courage to understand it. 

So, remember. 

YOU ARE ENOUGH.

Never let anyone or anything make you feel different.  Don’t compare yourself to others because, in the end, we all run the same race, just at different paces. 

You just need to be enough for yourself. 

That is all that matters; nothing more and nothing less.

Because the life you live is yours. So, live it. Don’t let anyone think you didn’t. Live life to the fullest and don’t let it drag you down.

Breathe. 

Control the waves.

Push them away. Make them carry you through life. But most importantly,

JUST LIVE IT