A piece of me

  I don't miss school, I miss my friends at school. I miss the privilege of seeing those faces every day. I don't miss school, I miss sharing our problems and giving and taking advice. I miss how snake rotation could not disrupt our communication. I don't miss school, I miss how we would find each other at the end of everyday. I don't miss school, I miss some teachers, the pep talks, the life lessons and funny little life incidents they narrated. I don't miss school. I miss the memories that painted the walls of school. I miss the company I had at school.                                                             –  Alloysha Dias  ______________________________________________________

' You don't have to swim like a fish; that's not possible. Just learn to swim.' This was a response my heart offered me a few years ago that still keeps me going. This statement helped me to be kinder to myself when I couldn't meet my own standards or things weren't up to the mark. We were never meant to swim like fish, and yet every day we try hard to fit in. We allow others, as well as ourselves, to condemn us for not being a particular way.   What makes things worse is hating yourself for not being able to do something perfectly and then not trying or attempting that thing again because of fear of doing it wrong, or rather, giving up on trying something because we believe we won't be able to do it as well as others. This eventually causes regret as to why we gave up without trying. For such situations, I had come to modify the earlier statement to say, "Why worry about swimming like the fish when you can do a backstroke, freestyle, or butterfly...