3. Ouches, tentacles and sunrises
“Ouch” is what we say when our body hurts. What are we supposed to say when our mind hurts? Nothing. Because nobody seems to care.
That’s what I thought at first until I realised everybody cares. Some people don’t show it, some people lose interest and some people can’t always relate but if they listen to your complaint that means that, even if it’s only for a split second, they care.
Saying what’s hurting you is very close to storytelling. You need to make your story interesting. Like a bard singing the story of a long lost hero you must be sure your audience doesn’t fall asleep before the climax.
You should make your story relatable. You need to make your story investing. You need to make your story look like her or his story. And that’s how you make history.
One of the ways I found to relate is to talk about habits. Here’s an example:
“Whenever I felt bad I used to binge eat Snickers, feel worse, then ending up ordering an XXL Pizza.”
If your interlocutor did something similar, you can relate and react to it, if not, he or she might have friends that did so and might propose solutions. This is a dialogue after all. You don’t need to speak in monologues and text in paragraphs.
After exposing yourself you can either explain your findings towards a solution to not feeling worse or, if the person has any advice on the matter, listen to them. You’re not only sharing for the love of sharing. You’re looking for advice too.
To complement the example above here’s a bit of advice I’ve found:
“When I felt bad instead of binge eating snickers I ate apples and punched the heck out of my pillow. I didn’t feel 100 percent better but at least I wasn’t hungry anymore and expelled some of my frustrations on something fluffy”
Some of our thoughts might not be relatable or we just want to keep them for ourselves. I’m talking about those little dark tentacles that reminds us about our past mistakes, our useless present and the lack of control we have on our future.
There are some days where the dark just stabs at our sanity without any particular reason. Even if you have a stable life, lots of friends and a generally healthy lifestyle. It just happens. It helps if you’re generally happier in life. To relate, it used to happen to me quite often, sometimes on a daily basis but now it only happens every six or seven months. So don’t worry, it gets better.
During moments like that there are three things I feel I can do to make it better: sleep, live the day with the darkness veiling my vision or facing it alone. I will try and go through all three and see the pros and cons of each.
Going to sleep is easy. Tire yourself enough, drink an infusion, take a pill and off you go. With your body shutting down your mind does to. Sometimes I understand why some coma patients take so long to wake up. You can’t distinguish the darkness at night. You can’t see it, but the best is that you can’t feel it.
Waking up is the hardest. Because tendrils are still there chipping at your soul. Sleeping only delays the pain.
We can assimilate the darkness in our minds sometimes with ink.Living through the day with it is dangerous. You may spill it on someone. You are not feeling as good as you want to make everyone believe. Your body language and attitude can and will betray you and you might end up hurting other people, making them guilty for what you are doing to yourself. Yes, this is what happens when you wear an iron mask .
Fighting the darkness head on is the most satisfying because you finally get to see the dawn afterwards. You might want to ask how. The concept is simple. Think of what makes you unhappy. Be loud, smart and courageous by answering your own doubts. Applying this is a quite harder.
For me I end up using my heart’s iron hammer on myself. It hurts as hell but a hammer to the face is less lethal than a knife in the dark.
Everybody has their way of facing the darkness. You can hide under the covers, punch walls or just cry. Do what it takes. Expel everything and believe in yourself. It’s worth it, because getting rid of the darkness means getting to see the sunrise. It’s the most beautiful thing you’ll ever see. And it gets better each and every time you do it.
And I can say that realising that made me generally happier.

















