Ode To What It Means to Be Human

Being human is complicated. Even if we all came with a set of instructions, it wouldn't change anything. But, the essential way to be ‘human’ is in making your own decisions and doing the random things you prefer. There are vulnerabilities that exist at our edges with rawness that seem overwhelming sometimes. We tend to feel as though we are the only ones who wade in the messiness of our imperfections.

While we might exhibit these uniqueness at different intensities with varying levels of awareness, it doesn't make us less human. We all similar fears, hopes and dreams, although our experiences differ. We are all scared of something, or the loss of something. Snakes, spiders, bad dreams, failure, or loss of hope, love, life or the death of a loved one. Ironically, the closer we get to fear, the braver we become and soul-clenching losses often comes under the guise of ‘making us grow’.

We have all experienced a particular loss that seemed to have changed our normal, but inspite of that we learn to appreciate the strength of the human spirit. The only way not to be scared of anything is to shrink away from threats, but there are time when going through challenges is worth it. We all feel insecure sometimes, but have to acknowledge and own them to exercise our power. Our insecurities teach us empathy, compassion and authenticity, so we understand the vulnerability of others. However, there is a dark side to it that could make us arrogant, brash and toxic. It all depends on the level of our awareness and how open you are to their existence. While these insecurities may never disappear, you can navigate around them without tripping.

We have all felt the pain of a broken heart. Its overwhelming that the one person we've come to trust can turn on us when we least expect. Every relationship has a make or break point, when something tips us towards being angry or sad. The difference between a good relationship and a bad one is how we come to terms with our peculiarities. As much as the feeling of love promises to catapult us towards glorious heights, one way or another we seem to end up high and dry. Sometimes love just isn’t enough, but it still has to run its course and for whatever reason, that hurts. We will be disappointed by our loved ones. However, people are prone to mistakes, and the greatest ways to sabotage yourself is to reminisce on past mistake.

We criticise, judge, shame and also hurt the people we love. For the sake of our ego, we can either decide to let go of the relationship or let go of the hurt that has come from the mistake. The moment we acknowledge that we all have it in us to get it wrong, we will learn the embrace forgiveness.

The tendency to compare is in all of us. We will always feel the urge to compare ourselves to others, for better or worse. Comparison may seem unhealthy, but it clues us in to how we’re doing, and what we could be better. As humans, its quite easy to recognise our truth when we see them being worn by someone else. We can’t be everything, because there will always be someone with more of something that we want. The effect of comparison on our life is a conscious decision to make whether it motivates or suffocates us.

We all have our own secrets. Secrets in this context may not necessarily mean deception. Secrets are like a playground where we indulge our fantasies and keep the frailties of ourselves hidden until we're ready to expose our vulnerabilities. Whether it’s a big dream, personal guilts, moment of shame, or regrets, everyone has a secret peculiar to them. Secrets don’t necessarily cause a breakage, but they can affect our capacity to move on. This all depends on what the secret is and the force driving it.

We will have our regrets, adventure we declined, and offers we turned down. When time changes reality, we get opportune to experience only one path we decide on. But, time has a way of polishing alternatives path until they seem to sparkle. Whether it’s the uniqueness of a moment, the inexplicable combination of fascinating memories about something we said, did or some place we were. Being human becomes a beautiful experience, the sooner we own our own imperfections, and stop honing in on the imperfections in others. We’re not be close to perfect. We’re not even close, but what we are is more than enough.