Lessons Learnt the Hard Way

I was bombarded with the urge to write... a gut wrenching need to let out what was festering inside me, building up to storm, swirling, raging, thundering, bellowing, screaming... I was afraid that it would all simmer down and die out before I could let it out, or that it would detonate and then all that would be left would be rubble and smoke. What happens? Why does this happen? I believe that of the best works of this world, the most creative of master pieces of any art form are born this way. Artists are overcome with the need to let out what threatens to tear them apart if not expelled. What materializes is deep, meaningful, beautiful. But the end result is reaped only after the seed of intense grief or joy (as the case may be) is sowed- usually the former. I believe the inspiration starts to take hold when a person is at his most vulnerable, when his soul has been gouged at, clawed and mauled, when his heart has been ripped to shreds and the wounds run so deep that ...

It's such a cliche to say that wisdom comes with age, it's probably an accurate one too, but seriously, there are 40 year old douche bags out there who wouldn't know the value of a wise thought even if it materialized in front of their eyes, showed its amazing consequences, and then punched them in the face! But this is not about those losers, it's about me and my thoughts, their evolution over the past four decades and all the experiences, horrendous as well inanely beautiful, that have shaped them. Of these profound realizations, of which there are too many to list down, a few of my favourites are listed below and I'd love to share them with those of you out there who are young but don't have people in your life who truly 'get you', people who wish there was someone to give them some insight on the overwhelming complexities of life, people who have written off existence as nothing but pain and suffering and are looking for some excuse to keep movin...