Man it’s been a while, but I guess I’ve been meaning to still use this platform more often, since I do enjoy writing, even if I’m not the best at it. But what brought me back? Well a couple of things. The first being that I have some really awesome friends and family who sometimes ask why I’m not doing this anymore and if I’ll do it again, and I didn’t really have a good reason as to why not, so thank you to those people for pushing me! The other reason is that I really didn’t know what I wanted to write about, but today I thought of something cool, so here I am.
My idea actually came from a Reality Show on Netflix called The Circle, interesting that inspiration comes from the craziest of places. It’s a competition based show where contestants are asked to create a social media profile and then interact with other contestants without even seeing them. During season 4, there was one contestant named Frank, who lost both his parents when he was young and recently lost both his last remaining grandparents recently, in the past few years, and yet when you watch the show all you see is positivity. I’m sure I’m not doing his story the justice he deserves, so please read up on him when you get the chance. But you never see any resentment for why life dealt him such a bad hand, you just see him constantly be, as some contestants called him, “a ray of sunshine”. One of the contestants named Bru who called him that, had a very interesting quote on the finale about that conversation with Frank. He said, “I just love taking the opportunity while you have it. You never know what life’s gonna throw at you, so always tell people how you feel and the things you appreciate about them.”
When I first heard this simple quote, I kinda lost it. This is something I know for a fact I can be so much better about! This is especially true when you consider these past two years, with so many painful losses of life from covid, meaningless gun violence, the war in Ukraine, and so much more. As the quote says, you never know what life is going to throw at you, so you should always take the chance when you get it. We all get into the trap of taking people and things for granted, and then you sometimes regret not saying something when it’s too late. I don’t necessarily have any advice on how to get better at this, but if anything just rip that band aid right off and tell the people who mean the most to you how truly amazing they are. Give them the flowers they deserve. I’ve seen this first hand, whenever I do put this into practice. When you do this you’ll see how happy you make the other person, and there really isn’t any better feeling than making those you love happy.
I guess this especially hits home for me, since about a year ago last May, my grandma was diagnosed with cancer. And by some miracle and insane amount of strength and will power by my grandma, she is still standing. But just reflecting, a year ago I would constantly have thoughts about what if this is the last time I would ever see her. I remember, everyday after school, my grandpa would pick my cousin and I up and then drop us off at my grandma’s house, where my grandma would take care of us until our parents would pick us up after work. She would always have my favorite snacks and would always put on Nickelodeon so I could watch my favorite cartoons. She is so incredibly kind and caring, and that has always shone through whenever she cares for her kids or grandkids. She is one of the most important people in my life, and she is such an integral part to who I am today. I’m so beyond blessed that she is still alive and with us today, and that I can go over to her house and visit and talk to her, and tell her how much she means to me.
Take advantage of every beautiful moment that life has to offer, and be that light for someone else and just make their day by telling them how much you appreciate them! It’s worth it.
– –
Prabh
