The strength behind those tears

A student’s future has been determined to a doctor or an engineer and a woman’s future is tied by a knot (marriage). Everyone’s life has been set by the society’s standards and is considered the right way to go about things. Similarly, a person’s emotions are stereotyped, merely on shallow observations by a group of people. There is a people’s ‘dictionary’ which has rigid rules for the reason behind each emotions. For instance, a person who cries or is forgiving is considered to be weak. If the same person is emotionless then, he will project a sense of strength. These ideas of ‘normal’ limit our perception.

These set of rules are constantly being engraved in our souls thus, deteriorating the number of empathetics in the society. Instead of broadening our thoughts according to the situation, our perspectives became fixed. For example, when a person gets frustrated and cusses, we immediately label them as a bad person. We don’t even bother to give a thought as to why a certain soul is feeling that way. Instead, we impose a thousand judgements on them.

In my case, these rules penalised my personal traits. For the longest of time, I was convinced to be a weak individual due to my sensitivity. I would tear out of sadness, happiness or even anger. But by default, I was a depressed girl in wheelchair who did not know how to control her emotions. Girls are known to have an emotional nature but, mine projected weakness to the ones around me. Having that in-built stubborn heart, I wanted to be that strong and independent woman. Or to be more clear, I wanted to be accepted as a strong individual by the society. Personally, I wanted to change this trait that caused me to become ‘weak’.

In this journey of change, I met people who recognized me as a strong individual. Some even confessed that they wish to let out their emotions like I did, through tears. Perplexed, I dug deeper into the roots behind what strength actually is.

Honestly, I had it all wrong these past few years. A person can not be strong just because he does not feel emotions and that same person should not be considered weak just because he sheds tears. True strength is when a person weeps in pain but, doesnt let it affect his ambitions and dreams. Strength lies behind those stubborn hearted souls who, despite all the obstacles continue to move forward. Because in the end, we all are humans and we deserve to express our emotions.

Society will continue to judge, but it is our duty to not let it affect us and move on