I found these pictures while browsing through Pinterest. They may seem like regular pictures to you but, they spoke to me. I've always been shy and reserved. As a child, I was described as someone who had two personalities. I was mischievous, entertaining and foxy only when I was with my family. The other times I got back to being shy and composed. They were my best friends. I have always been ordinary, Nothing unique, nothing special. I remember my initial days of school. I was always crying, not eating, not focusing. Missed my family a lot, couldn't make many friends. Happens with everyone, right?. Fast forward to the early teen years. I made some friends and some decisions that taught me enormous lessons. I resented my family and trusted those who were only bringing me down. Happens with everyone, right?. High school has always been hard for people. I experienced and survived high school with memories I don't think I'll cherish my entire life. Happens with everyone, right?

The trauma that high school leaves us in, we are scarred for life. This does not happen with everyone. We meet many people in our lives. Some help us, some make us worse. When a child, we are always told to focus on our health. The people around us are concerned about what we eat, what we drink or if we slept okay. What changes when we grow up? We become responsible for our health. Physical and Mental. We scrutinize only for the result to let us down. In the race of growing up, a part of us fades away. The part we search for the rest of our lives. We live in a very cutthroat world. Everyone and everything around us is moving. We are trapped in this hustle and bustle. The need to keep up with the pace, hunger for success makes us something we are not. We don't always have to catch that last train. There are signs around us telling us to stop, to take a break and to let it all out. What signs, you ask? The night you cried yourself to sleep, the time you binged on the ice cream while Netflix played in the background for thirteen hours, the morning you didn't want to wake up, the day when you thought this world would be better without you in it. This dark cloud is always above our heads. Walking with us, sitting with us, eating with us. It never rains, there is no sunshine.

The notion of "normal" varies. It is different for everyone. Some of us are the heart of every party but, no one wants to know what's in that heart. To fulfil the expectations and the high hopes people have for us, we put on a mask. That becomes a part of us. We don't want to take that off, be it fake. The judgements, observation, commentary frights us. What surrounds us is the fear of what impact we'll have on those around us. What we have to understand is they won't be around for long. The only one that'll stick around is us. Your first best friends will always be your best friends, your family. What we need is ourselves. The monotony of life makes us feeble and takes us away from our real selves. Looking around, seeing everyone's cordial relations and comparing that to what we have won't help us have that. Work for that. The darkness that we carry behind that mask has to come off. Don't let that get in your way, ever. Stop for a while, get away from this chasing catastrophe. Quest for the real you, that you buried a long tome back. You aren't alone in this. Speak up, communicate. We are in this together. We've always been.

I am still as shy as I was before. Still mischievous and foxy. Only when I remove that mask of mine.