I often get caught up in the darkness of the world. It is difficult not to. When you are emotional or intuitive, you can’t help but feel a sense of unease and worry about the way things are. I’m not sure whether it’s something deep within us that feels it, like a sixth sense, or a language that we have long forgotten - but I feel it, and I know others feel it.

That unease spreads, and so many people are plagued by the negativity and dogma in the world. Not only is that natural, but it’s forced on us; whether for clicks or headlines, or for political gain - bad news grabs attention and stirs up emotions.

It is also cyclic and recurring. We feel the darkness in society around us, and we can’t help but feel negative and down ourselves; which is then apparent to those around us. We feel guilty for carrying the burden of society, which reinforces the negativity. It can feel hopeless.

I’m not sure if I’m a glass half full, or glass half empty person, such are my fluctuating moods and emotions; but I know what it feels like to be burdened by everything going on around us, especially when compounded with one’s already existing doubts and worries. It is like adding spoonful after spoonful of dirt to the glass of water, and then shaking it up vigorously.

Whether the glass is half full or half empty matters not when the water is dirty and full of dirt. When shaken, we can no longer even see the water - we can only see the dirt; the darkness and the despair.

Perhaps it is why it suits so many people for so much negativity to be in our faces? Perhaps they do not want us to see the water, the reality; perhaps they want us to be shaken and so we only focus on the dirt.

Stop

And so, maybe, it’s time to stop. Relax, and breathe.

It’s not about not caring, but rather; just like one does between two breathes, we just need to actually stop and pause.

When we stop shaking the glass and relax, we give the water time to settle. The sediment falls to the bottom of the glass, and we can see the water once more.

I get caught up in my emotions and I absorb the negativity to the point that I grip harder and harder to that feeling of wanting to do something to make it better. Sometimes though, the harder we hold onto something, the more we try to force things, the more difficult we find it to do anything.

When I stop and relax, it allows me to see the world in a different light. The water is clearer. I see scared people who are doing their best. I see people with tremendous light and potential inside of them looking for the courage to be themselves and make the world a better place. I see the beauty in the mundane, I see the beauty that is always there, always around us. I have the time to be grateful to be here.

Rather than losing my patience with some awful driver, it allows me to be happy to have the time to sing to another awful song (that I love nonetheless) and to be appreciative for feeling the air from the window as I drive by.

When I stop focusing on the rest of the world, I free up energy to spend on myself.

River

We are told who we are supposed to be and we’re bombarded with thousands of social media profiles that force us to compare ourselves, every single day. We’re asked stupid questions about what job we want to do in the future. We’re expected to socialise, have a hundred friends, go have fancy meals, don’t forget your coffee (best not forget to post about it), not married yet? Uh-oh shame on you /s.

Most of us feel stuck in our lives because we spend so much time being told to think about who we are, or being told who society thinks we should be, with ample evidence and comparison to try and justify it.

What we all forget, is that become who we are by being and doing.

We spend our entire lives trying to fight the flow of a river. We’re of the impression that we need to brute force it. We need to keep moving forward toward the right path.

Just let go, and relax.

As soon as we decide to go with the flow (yes I know…) we feel lighter and we free up so much energy that we can allow ourselves to be who we’re meant to be. As soon as we stop resisting our natural inclinations the sooner we find out who we really are.

Of course, that does not solve all issues. We must be careful to avoid being a passenger to life. But life is a series of choices that we must make every single day. Most people decide to either spend too much energy on the wrong choices, or decide to ignore them entirely. Learn to spend your energy on those decisions that are in your control, and learn to make decisions for the right reasons; that is key.

I wish that I could make everyone feel that some hope and calm that comes with stepping back in those calm reflections. I wish I felt it more. I wish that those people who often feel stuck and paralysed could see that their beauty and joy that the bring to the world is not through doing what society expects from them, but by being authentically and unapologetically themselves.

Sometimes it’s not about making big plans or deciding right then and there who you should be and what you should be doing, but rather making small decisions each and every day to do and be more than you were the day before. Find joy and beauty in what you do, and be guided by the light inside you.

Our time is finite, and it could end at any given moment. We could spend that finite time worrying, we could spend it watching Netflix or scrolling on Instagram, we could spend it working a job we don’t like, we could spend it pretending to care about fake friends or socialising when we don’t want to…

Or you know, we could spend it doing stuff that actually matters and that makes us happier and better.

Sometimes you need to stop and relax to better see what’s important and what to spend your precious time on.