takeaways (2013)
Tried to reflect on my 2013 take-aways #(added parenthesis when I decided to share)
1.
You’re an Earth, where you play God, play Gaga, play Destroyer, play president, play Healer, play judge, play virgin, play lawyer, play Freud, play philosopher, play thief, play celebrity, where ocean tides move to the rhythm of your breath and night falls in harmony with your blink.
#(you’re your own toughest critic: no one cares that much about you: you’re not special: people are dealing with their own shit).
2.
Don’t wait for perfection like you do the mail man because he never has what you ordered and it’s only an excuse not to leave your house.
#(start your goals, apologies, projects, love now)
3.
Ghosts travel in suitcases undetected by Israeli airport security, invisible to even the NSA, and will haunt you through walls, seas, and country border lines.
#(change your metaphorical baggage not your literal, your attitude not your location)
4.
Children cough laughter and catch happiness like kindergarten colds.
#(If you want to make the world better, start by making yourself happier - it'll spread to those around you--surround yourself with happy people)
5.
Othello’s life ends not with daggers, but with arriving lights and curtains called, with all returning to their lives, with players playing mind games with wives, where no ones dies---except that stupid Clown.
#(don’t write a tragedy and cast yourself/ write an ultralight comedy: don’t do stupid shit so you can write about it later)
6.
Friction saves more lives than Batman while Inertia slowly kills.
#(When you first wake up, ask yourself why you continue to live, then proceed)
7.
Parasites crawl through Earth, creep through skin, feed off your insecurities and fears
#(fight them by accepting who you are and what you have)
8.
Judgement is poison that corrodes flesh numb, deadening you with a cynical stench that pollutes air like Shang Hi smog.
#(journaling, running, laughing are anecdotes: be open minded assume the best; shrug things off)
9.
Nourishing delicious ideas require time to be conveyed, digested, and savored.
#(cohesion/depth is lost in bullet point lists *irony* and quick mouse clicks: you’re not that “busy”)
10.
Songs played on repeat that you listen to over and over again, year after year, while you sleep and dream, regret and bemoan, humming choruses like religious mantras, they transcend speakers, transcend sound, harmonizing with you, through you, songs that could never be shared with others--who only hear dull acoustic chords and muffled existential lyrics, who bob their heads and say ‘cool’ unimpressed, while you sit there silent and wide-eyed, hearing now only meaninglessness, realizing that they cannot hear you until they hear the music of transcendence--which may take years and years, which may be impossible, which may not exist---so why bother.
#(uhh...idk)
11.
comment your own please. Tell me things to start my new year. ▼
Aly is a writer from Palo Alto, California, and writes pieces that are skin-crawling and lung-crushing in the best of ways. You can read more of her work here.
