Chairs

I wonder how chairs get sturdy and fit people but not all sizes. Frankly, chairs are not one size fits all. Say, for children, you may need plastic play chairs. For restaurant babies, there’s this kind of chair that suits babies. There’s this chair or seat meant for cars.

For adults, there are smaller Asian sized monobloc chairs. Other times there are American sized chairs? I wonder why sizes are racial in state too? Beats me!

There are also wooden chairs so to speak. Chairs that are sturdy and bulkier. Chairs made of narra and end as benches. There are chairs like rattan the likes of Cobonpue or even swing chairs in coffee shops.

As I sit alone in a certain coffee shop, I realize how my journey is different. I realize too that your journey is different. I mean, I am not comparing but every individual is unique and diverse.

I mean even twins whether fraternal or identical have their own differences in one way or the other. I mean even sisters and brothers are similar and different in all aspects even if they come from one family.

Even if two people are clinically diagnosed with one diagnosis, their way of managing, processing and healing are different. For example, a person diagnosed of bipolar disorder may not cope or manage the same way as the other person diagnosed of the same disorder. So let’s not make comparisons, right?

This is one thing I later realized in life. Sometimes I’ve been so caught up comparing my journey that I should have become this and that if only I hadn’t been diagnosed with mental health. It did end in pity sometimes. But sometimes you realize you have to go through things in order to find your own strength – your own, unique, no-turning back strength. Only then will you realize you can be like a chair sturdy and uniquely strong – uniquely made or even customized. It’s a fact of life and maybe of chairs and mental health.

A lot of times I do share my journey, it’s not really a way of comparing chairs but a way of trying to inspire. Not because I did it that you must do it too, but because the greatest healing is being able to inspire and be inspired. Not because I sat in one chair that you may sit on it too. Life is too short to not be you even in mental health, healing and coping. But if you’re still processing things give it time and make use of that chair, obviously, to sit!

I hope I inspire you every week as much as you inspire me in many ways. My journey is still a tough one, so is yours but realizing you’re not alone is saying you can. It is my way of finding hope too in writing about mental health.

As I say, find the light that shines from within. If all else fails, light a candle with a matchstick or lighter. Just don’t get burnt.

But in case you get burnt, learn from it. After all, there’s still learning and the feeling of being alive plus the ability to hope!

To hope is the ability to live and to live is the ability to hope!