The Thoughts Loom

  For the past few months, I have been orbiting too much around the concepts of life. I observed, changed, endured, tried to find meaning, happiness, tried to do things that would bring joy. Some did, some didn’t. Finally, I found out that maybe most things are just tricking the brain. Or in other words, there are different perspectives of looking at things, and the perspective a person chooses slowly becomes his identity. For people like me, this ability to think from too many perspectives instead of one has landed me most of the time in dilemma and utter confusion about how to act. Take this example. When I said “fooling the brain,” that itself is just one perspective. Somebody can look at the same thing through the lens of discipline or restraint. Somebody may call it self-control. Somebody may say it is going with the flow. Somebody may simply say it is all about what you choose to think. But hitherto, after all the confusion and thoughts I previously believed in, I realised so...

  I started with a simple observation that didn’t sit right with me. People say men are strong and women are emotional. But when I actually look around, I see something else. Women express what they feel. It comes out-through words, reactions, even tears. Men don’t. They hold it in. They appear stable, controlled, composed. So what exactly is strength here? Is it the ability to suppress, or the ability to process? If emotions are pushed outward, they get dealt with. If they are pushed inward, they stay. They sit, accumulate, distort. So why is expression called weakness and suppression called strength? That classification itself feels flawed. From here, two completely different interpretations emerge. One says: women are weak. They cry easily, react strongly, get affected by small things. Men carry responsibility, stay composed, don’t break down. The other says: women are strong. They face what they feel, they process it, they don’t run from it. Men avoid it. They hide behind contr...