Sunsets with a cup of coffee: my perspectives
My mother is one of those people who don’t like sunsets, she never did. She won’t even let me hang a painting of sunsets in our home or put it as my desktop wallpaper. According to my mom’s expert advice (believe me when I say this my mother is a very talented woman & she is the undisputed de facto expert in all thing mundane at our place) sunsets and apparently even its paintings or pictures no matter how exquisitely beautiful they are “bad feng shui”. I never got feng shui as a kid and as a semi adult I still very much don’t get it, despite my semi-sincere efforts to understand it from some crappy website.
Once when I was 10, I painted her a brilliant
sunset with watercolours which she loved but later it’d come to unfold that she
only liked it as she mistook it for a sunrise. She even praised me calling me
little lady Picasso and for that moment she was even proud of me. Feeling like
next Vincent Van Gogh I proudly declared out to her that my master piece was actually
my rendition of a sunset. I still clearly remember her expression from that
day; her lips pressed into a hard line disappointment colouring her face. She
later added in her morose tone that she hated sunsets. I was bewildered so I asked why. She simply
replied “because they symbolise endings.” and continued with her chores unaware
of the fact how even the most ordinary incidents the likes of that day could
make a child jump into the endless thoughts and what seems to be existential
crises of sort. To my 10 year old self sunsets were (and still are) colourful,
bright, vibrant and one of the most exquisite sights of nature. The very idea
that something so beautiful could be disliked was nothing sort of earth
shattering. (Yes, yes I have always been tad bit of an over analyser and self
acclaimed philosopher since my childhood or so it seems).
Much later with
time I just deduced that my mum is one of those people who aren’t particularly
fond of endings. I guess to her sunsets
symbolise end of a perfect day which will never come again only to be lost in
the chapters of time which can be revisited of course, but only once in awhile in memories. But I have never really agreed with my mother (or for that matter
anyone) on anything (cue music from pre teen rebellious phase coming of age
movie) and the same stands true for her theory on sunsets as well. I am one of
those people who love watching sunrises and sunsets, but one could call me more
of sunset kind of girl. The beginnings are great but the endings are just as
important. Whilst a happy ending to a day is always a desirable one, it’s many a
time not achievable. That’s just something we all learn the hard way. Some days
are just not meant to end well. Some sunrises don’t bring the happiness and
opportunities we hoped for. Learn to accept it and let go of all that went
wrong. Learn to accept your weakness because it’s ok to be weak sometimes.
Don’t let the impossibly high standards set by society make you feel like you
are less of a man or woman for losing for losing your composure. It’s okay to
let your mask of carefully calculated perfection fall off. It’s okay to fall
apart. It’s okay to feel like your whole is ending. It’s for you to feel like
the air is being choked out of our lungs. It’s okay to cry your eyes out in
your pillow for your lost love. It’s okay to feel sad whatever may be the
reason be. Maybe you had a bad break up. Maybe you did not get the job or
promotion you deserved. Maybe you did not get an A+ on the assignment you put
your and soul into. May be you are not doing well financially. God knows there are a
million of such insurmountable hurdles each one of us faces. Hard times and
difficult situations get the better of each and every one of us. Although it
might feel like the end of the world right now, trust me on this, it’s not.
Eventually the bad times will pass but you will have to find the silver lining
even where there is none. That is the only
way to get through the bad days. Muster
up the courage from the core of your being and appreciate the endings,
especially the bad ones. The only silver lining to find here is that the worst part is
over. The day has ended. It’s a better alternative to be grateful and
appreciate what’s in front of us instead of mulling over what could have should
have been. Love yourself and feel at
peace with your mistakes and the world around you. It sounds like the clichéd
piece of advice. But there is a reason they call it clichéd, its tried and tested
and it works.
Every day I watch the
sunset standing at the roof of my house, cold evening wind caressing my tresses
gently, while sipping on a cup of coffee. Somedays I am content and on top of the world
planning world domination. On other not so good days I just stare blankly at
the infinite expanse of crimson tinged sky, silently sipping my coffee. I think every sunset gives us an opportunity
to sleep off our anger, disappointments and regrets and start afresh for a new
day, a new sunrise untainted with our previous mistakes. That’s what sunsets
symbolise to me an opportunity; to let go of the hurt, anger & mistakes, an
opportunity to revisit the happy moments, to relish & cherish them. You know what they say; all is well that ends
well. So no matter how bad or good a day has been if at the end of the day I
can look back upon it while sipping on hot cup of coffee while watching the sun
go down without a frown on my face and feel good about it, I consider the day well spent.PS By mums strict orders I am still not allowed to hang the paintings of sunset in my room! ;)
(All photos sourced from pinterest.)
