A Better Day

As my mom enters my room to wake me up she opens up the blinds. I cringe at the sight of sunlight in the blue sky. I wake up and ponder if everything will be okay. My mom sits next to me and starts talking. Ever since that incident, she tries to talk to me about everything in hopes to rebuild my self confidence and she thinks that by her talking, I will be fixed and my crashing world will be some how be okay. Giving no response to her while she was talking, I can see her heart break because she does not know how to help me. All she wants to do is help or find a way for me to help myself. She just wants me to be my old self and feel better.  I start a conversation with her so I can see that pain in her eyes go away. I cannot help but see this sort of sorrow knowing that my mom has to through my misfortune.

Although my therapist says it is only going to make things worse if I feel like this and that it is not my fault, I cannot help but feel like this. The feeling that I am a source of her unhappiness and that if it were not for me, she could be living a happy life. As my breath softens, I rise from the my bed and start to get dressed. As I am getting dressed I can see the scars on my legs and arms. I hate the sight of the scars as it remind me of everything. The scars that once proved to me that  I was real, I was alive. At times it also silenced the chaos in my head, briefly pausing the repetitive flashbacks and body memories. I hate how it will never go away. I get dressed and walk myself downstairs with my mom, allowing myself to continue on with my day. After eating my mom wanders towards me and reminds me it is time to see my support group and that it cannot wait. 

As I arrive at the support group, everyone greets me and asks me to take a seat while my mother waits outside. When it comes to my turn, they all ask how I am doing,  I respond with a look that says everything, I am not well, I cannot stop feeling this way and I need help. I talk about how I regret the scars.  I regret it more than anything else I’ve ever done in my life. It’s personally invalidating. It’s hard to be proud of yourself or feel okay about something that is censored- even if the reasons for censoring are good ones. It’s very hard not to internalize the feeling that your body is something that shouldn’t be seen, that it’s shameful, because your body makes other people feel uncomfortable, or hurt, or want to hurt themselves. Winter is coming. I look forward to it, the season of sleeves, where I don’t have to think about this stuff. I wish it were all year round. The peers in my support group  listen and remind me they are there to help. Hearing those words made a big difference on how I felt.  It reduced the feelings of shame and isolation. I started to head home with my mom.

As we pulled up on the driveway I saw my dad’s car and all the feelings began to flood back and I felt suffocated – confided by all the old memories. I feared seeing him. I couldn’t fight the clammy hands, the goosebumps that ran up my arm or the sweat that trickled down my back. When I walked in ,I saw my dad holding the liquor bottle that never left his side, as he scrammed at my brother. While waving his hand around, his bottle had dropped and broke not to far from me. Being the merger boy I was, I couldn’t look him in the eyes as he grabbed me by my collar and said he was ashamed of the man I am today and how he wished I was never born. Not being able to handle his screams or his poison like words, I broke from his grip  and ran upstairs to the bathroom where I could lock myself in.  My knees weaken and my eyes flood with tears as I fell to floor. Across from me was a razor that I was tempted to grab. Not being able to cope with all the emotional pain, I decided that it would be better to be physical. A few seconds later, my brother came banging on the door yelling at me to open it up. A moment of relief came into my mind when I realized that I was not alone; however, I felt weak in my knees and could not find the courage to speak  or open the door. I can feel myself drift away, slowly into the darkness. After some time my brother slammed down the door and stood across from me staring at the blood. Both of us not knowing what to do, we sat in silence  around the pool of my blood and hoped that tomorrow would be a better day.

The Key

“People say that money is not the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.”

— Joan Rivers

If you have read my blog, then you must know that I love money. It is a dream of mine to become rich. Money is something that I love and something that I find valuable. However, as hard as it must be for you to believe me, I believe there is more to life than money. Yes, with it you can have prestigious items and a grand life. With it, you have more keys to open doors but all of that is useless if you do not know how to spend it properly. What is the point of having a vast amount of money if one does not help out those who have nothing? What is the point of the bills that are stacked in one’s bank if one does not have their buddies by their side to enjoy it? Money leads to happiness when you do something meaningful with it. That does not mean do not spend it on yourself. It does not make you selfish for spending it on yourself. You worked very hard to achieve it and therefore, you have every right to treat yourself any way you please. Just do not misuse it. It not worth doing “evil” things in order to achieve it. Money becomes evil when it is placed in the wrong hands. It becomes evil when suddenly one is willing to manipulate to gain power and when one does not use their conscience. Often times people forget that we control the money, it does not control us. Leave your mark in the world by doing something extraordinary with the money that you may posses. Do not let it get the best of you. Do not get me wrong, I still find it valuable and I still want to be a billionaire. I still believe it is an essential part to live a luxurious  life. But without it, you can still posses the key to a happy life.

Money, Money, Money

Money, Money,  Money

What made you so important

You are the one who rules our lives

Without you we intend to die

Money, Money, Money

Bit by bit you consume me

Forever I bow down as you control me

Money, Money, Money

You are blessed by the devil

Master of the world

Giving us no choice but to be enslaved

Money, Money, Money

You turn myself full of greed

I know you are not a need

Yet I am still not content without you

Money, Money, Money

You spare no man

Acting like a femme fatale

We crave your sweet touch

Money, Money, Money

What made you so important

You are the one who rules our lives

Without you we intend to die

Reading Ladder – May

Kite Runner – Khalid Hosseini (372 pages)

I have always enjoyed reading the novels that Khalid Hosseini has written. Because the characters in his novel go through many traumatic challenges but always overcome them in one way or form, is one of the many reasons I enjoy reading his books.

Rating: 4/5

Sarah Newcomb (208 pages)

One of my all-time favourite novels. This novel captures the wisdom of how someone can use money and what money can mean to them. It teaches you the most about money.  After reading this novel, one’s view about money changes or one gets a different perspective on how to use it.

Rating: 4.5/5

The Invisible Gorilla –  Christopher F. Chabris and Daniel Simmons (320 pages)

This book is co authored by Christopher F. Chabris and Daniel Simmons. This book is about the gorilla experiment that reveals we as individuals are missing a lot of things and that we have no idea what we are missing. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy reading books about psychology and science.

Rating: 3/5

Total number of pages: 900

Number of pages per day: 30 pages

I met my last goal, which was to read Loaded: Money, Psychology, and How to Get Ahead Without Leaving your Values Behind – Sarah Newcomb. I am glad I took a designated time out my day to read this novel.

My next goal is to read more. When summer comes, I will be able to read more because I will have more time to read more novels.I will complete this goal by by going to library more often to find more book that I would enjoy to read. Also by allocating time just to read.

Reading Ladder – March

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald (180 pages)

A novel which setting takes place in 1922 in New York. The protagonist, Jay Gastby, who is a millionaire throws many grand parties in the reach of his true love Daisy. This book revolves around the themes of love, wealth and tragedy.

Rate: 3/5

 

 

 

Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert T. Kiyosaki ( 207 pages)

A book written by Robert Kiyosaki which advocates the importance of being financial independent and how to build an individuals wealth through a vast amount of investments.

Rate: 4/5

 

 

 

The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini (372 pages) (read 200 pages)

I am currently still reading this novel that is based on the personal life on the protagonist, Amir.

Rating: 4/5

Total Number of Pages:

Pages per Day: 15 pages

 

 

Goals:

My goal is to increase the number of pages I read per day by taking more time out of my day to read. By starting homework earlier and making a proper schedule, I will be able to have more time at the end of the day to read. This will also give me the opportunity to read more books.

Loaded: Money, Psychology, and How to Get Ahead Without Leaving Your Values Behind is the book I will like to read next. It is a 240 page book that is about money and why it is important to ordinary people.

A Luxurious Life

One word, five letters, that describes the one object in this word that has immense power to control it. Money. It is the one thing you need to attain a luxurious life. Money is a force that drives my motivation and gives me a purpose.  It is what motivates me to have a prosperous life. A luxurious life. Many say money is not everything; however, argue all you want, at the end of the day it has to the power to control the outcome of your life. It has the power to influence  how the world judges you and how much respect you deserve. It determines whether you live a life with leverage and peace or if you live with stress wondering how you are going to pay for the bread and butter to feed your hunger. It literally runs the world. Maybe being disgustingly rich is a dream of mine so I can be in control of my life. So I have more freedom to carve out my own path and have less constraints on my choices. Instead of this object holding the power over me, I will be able to have the power because I will own it. I will be able to determine how luxurious my life can truly be.

Money is a gateway to having a fulfilling life incorporating all 3 necessities of life – food, water, shelter.  But to earn money is to enter in a vicious cycle. A vicious cycle that has endless possibilities. Those who are willing to work for it and are willing to go through all the hurdles, are the ones who truly deserve it. It is survival of the fittest in this cruel world and the only way to survive is to have Sir Robert L. Borden by your side. However, once we earn money we also become accountable to the world. We are accountable because now we also have the power to give back and make a difference. To take on the responsibilities and possibilities that money has to offer. To give others a chance to have a luxurious life. And I  for one cannot wait. Cannot wait to have that control, the power, the endless possibilities. To have a luxurious life.

Trust

I believe in trust.

I believe that all relationships begin and end with this simple concept of trust. It can make a person feel supported and love but it can also utterly destroy an individual.

What is trust?

According to the Webster dictionary it is a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. I would say that it is true for the most part but also completely wrong simultaneously, for you cannot define a feeling such as trust as it is uniquely definitive to everyone who experiences it. But I do believe in my own unique type of trust.

I believe in an emotion that cannot be fathomed in simple words. It must be felt. It must be evoked. Trust is something that connects two people without speech. It is continually building making every relationship ever so strong. It is a feeling that can make someone feel like home, make it much too easy to poor all your fears and secrets into one being. And that is why trust, even though it can make everything seemingly better, can also become a tragic flaw.

Trusting another being allows for one to become significantly vulnerable to the other as it allows for everything to become present upon the table. One becomes completely exposed all due to this simple feeling of trust. The remarkable part is that this occurs willingly because I believe that all individuals yearn to feel this connection with another. It is of human nature to be trusting and to simultaneously desire trust in return.

Innately, I believe that all humans are naturally trusting, good people. Yet one wrong experience can completely change the dynamic of everything – it can change you forever. Trust issues exist and are very valid. My mother once told me of an analogy with regards to trust. It is like a piece of paper. Once it is crumpled, it can never be the same pristine sheet it once was. Similarly, once trust is broken, it can never be mended and returned to normal again.

I believe in the power of trust.

This I believe.