W

I decided to buy a guitar for myself in October 2016. No, I didn't take guitar classes before or knew anything about music theory except that I took piano classes in 3rd grade for a brief period of time. Honestly, I bought the guitar because I wanted to play along to sad songs and make my already depressed self more depressed. Isn't that what most of us do? Make ourselves more miserable by playing sad songs pretending we're in a dramatic movie. I started learning the basic chords one by one. Chord transitions came next. I learned whenever I felt sad. Soon enough I was able to play along to simple 4 chord progression songs. I'm not a good singer but being able to play and sing for myself was a nice thing. I felt happy about the progress and started getting better day by day. However, life took over and I had to pause my guitar practice. I still learn new songs whenever I can now. I realized that learning the thing I always wanted to learn made me happy.

You will have figured out the point of this blog post just by reading that paragraph. There's two distinct points I want to make. One is that you can learn whatever you want to if you have the perseverance to. Second, the only person who will help you in your hardest times is you. I want to focus more on the second point and hence I want to let you all know about a very inspiring woman I met on the bus when I was going to watch Star Wars : The Last Jedi.

I was sitting next to her when she started talking to me. I didn't ask her for her name so let's assume it's 'W'. W asked me where I study and I say, "I am in my Third year of Engineering." She asks, "Where are you going this early in the morning?" I say, "Uhhh...I'm going to meet a friend." (I didn't want her to know that I was going to watch a movie at 8AM in the morning) Anyway, I ask her the same question and she said she's going to her college. I asked her if she was a teacher and she denied that by saying she was a student and had an exam that (Sun)day. I'll let you all in on a little secret. W is in her 60's. Obviously, when W said she was a student I gave her a puzzled look. She saw that and asked, "What? Have you never seen an old student?" I shook my head and told her that three years of engineering have left me tired so I couldn't see how someone of her age can bear the load of University. I asked her why she joined college so late to which she replied, "I lost my husband a few years back..and I was depressed for months on end, so to put an end to my depression and loneliness, I decided to join college to complete my education." I also remember her complaining about her college having a uniform and how she was being a rebel for not wearing one. She said, "I am in my 60's, how can they expect me to wear a uniform?" We had a nice laugh about it. Her stop had arrived by this time, just before leaving she told me to have a nice day and walked down.

Sometimes I wish I can meet her again to tell her how much that one statement made by her had an impact on me.I was going to catch the first day first show of my all time favorite movies and wasn't at all expecting advice from a stranger. W showed me that it's not impossible to recover from your worst times. That happiness is a choice you make for yourself. So this brings me back to the point I made earlier; the only person who will help you in your hardest times is you. You see, W could have not gone to college and spent her life being depressed. But she didn't. She wanted to make the most out of the life she's got left. She made a choice for herself, the choice to make herself happy and occupied.

That's what I want to let you all know. Life is going to beat the hell out of us every time but what makes us human is our ability to take every punch, every kick and turn that pain into power.

As always, it ends with a quote. This one is one of my favorites. It's by Elizabeth Gilbert.

"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."