With great power comes great responsibility… and usually a blocked nose.
Let’s be very real, nobody just wakes up one random morning, stretches their arms and says, “Today feels like the best day to endure the most immense form of pain known to mankind that’d eventually help me build my character and be the best among them all”. Too specific right?
Well… moving on. No, real life isn’t that complicated. We all wake up hoping for our day to go very smoothly, our crushes texting us back, hoping that one professor be on leave today, and what not. But as soon as you stub your toe accidently at 7:41 a.m., you instantly achieve nirvana. Wakey Wakey, welcome to real world!
But what if our lives were comic books with us being the main character? Everybody would want the cool suit, the dramatic cape, the slow-motion entrance to their college.
Not the origin-stories that’s for sure, where you metaphorically (or maybe for real) fall into a manhole, fail a chemistry test, or get emotionally punched by someone who says, “We’re better off as friends.” But the strange thing is, swag is exactly born from these stories.
Pain, in very simple words, is like life’s trainer that does not take no for an answer—it just comes like, “Yo sup, it’s time to move to the next level of your character build-up.” You fight it, you perspire, you are in agony… and eventually, you see that your self-assurance has arms of steel.
The true swag can’t be picked or chosen by watching certain people on YouTube or watching certain movies; it’s created. It can be referred to as some sort of silent, steady aura of a person who has experienced so much that he/she cannot be embarrassed anymore. One who is aware that every hurt is only a future story he/she will tell.
And let’s be real with ourselves, what else can go wrong? Like literally go and ask anyone about their life and all they’ll have is lifelong content of whining. If you can endure a broken heart, meet a deadline, and fall without anyone seeing; you are a superhero in the making, half-way there at least, don’t worry I got you.
When life throws bricks at you, stack them… and build yourself a rooftop to have your break dance on.
People are often mistaken considering the fact that optimism is an attribute of people who refuse to see the problems or maybe ignore it. This is incorrect, on so many levels. Optimism means that you yourself would make a joke out of a problem before it could hit you. C’mon, go add a punchline to the very issue that’s going to punch you (damn I’m getting good at these).
Got rejected? Again? Boo! No one would remember any of this in their active memory till the dinner time (thanks to doomscrolling yay), but now for you, the character development side-quest is unlocked.
Failed at a competition? That’s utterly wonderful because now you’ve got time to feast on snacks and reflect on your shortcomings like a hoodie-wearing philosopher.
Hit the lowest point? God, it keeps on getting better para by para innit? Congratulations, you have found a firm ground for yourself, ideal for doing push-ups (try to beat my consecutive 101 pushup score).
The blows life deals you don’t shatter your bones and soul but also mould you just like a dramatic montage scene would. Swag comes to life when an individual takes the debris of his/her life and makes it his/her own dance floor. The brightest ones aren’t the individuals who had a smooth ride all way through; rather they are the ones who mastered the Moonwalk step while racing through the adversities and doing it with a comedic touch (idolise me).
If life hits you hard, hit back—with jokes, muscles, and greatly questionable confidence.
They are called superheroes but refrain from doing what? Avoiding pain, and that is not the reason they shine. They thrive spectacularly because they came out victorious after pain tried to defeat them and their answer was, “No thanks, I have got better things to do.”
It is high time to discuss the methods of dealing with problems. Some people meditate, while others prefer to keep a journal. Apart from that, there are superheroes who use one-liners to take the emotional blows off their chests.
This is not denial; it is strategy. Laughter is the weapon of web-slinger using defense. If things turn for worse then you throw in a joke so overpowered that even the whole universe stops to say, “Dang, that was really a good one mate.”
Experiencing pain leads to broaden one’s horizon. Going through suffering makes one resilient. What’s more, they can walk in a room with an inner confidence that says, “I have lived through all those noises, wounds and the chaos and I have come out stronger, sharper and victorious.”
Any setback you get is nothing but a story to narrate later on, every tear is nothing but, idk hydrate yourself with all of them.
See what we are doing here? We are not just “living through” the pain, we are conquering it.
Discover more stories on Her Campus at MUJ. More articles by me coming soon at Vaibhav Chaudhary at HCMUJ; he who watches the world and its miracles closely, noticing what slips between moments, between the infinite realities.