To Insecurity • Open Letter
Hey Insecurity,
You suck. A lot.
Don't play the victim here, you know you're the root cause of literally everything. Ok yeah, I will admit that you have made me realise many of my own faults, such as how overly cautious and guarded I kept/keep myself. BUT HEY you ruin everyone's life at one point. That's a pretty dumb move.
For example, Napoleon Bonaparte was apparently so insecure about his height since he was mocked in the British papers, he started wars to prove himself. And he's taller than me by almost 6 inches. Lucky for me, I'm not that insecure about my height. Pshh, not that much at least...
I'm 5ft 3/4in, okay, that's tiny in my standards.
Insecurity, I'm not sure what your purpose or goal in life is. Maybe it's to just absolutely ruin everyone's life, maybe it to shrink your prey's confidence. Which or whatever the reason is, I think we all have enough power to get over you. Probably not forever, but enough for us to live life. I'm sure of it.
Go ahead trying to knock us down like bowling pins as much as you want, it's not going to work. And to you, wonderful reader, don't let insecurity get to you! You are a human being, and human beings are flawed. You'll understand what you have to, and might need to work on certain other topics. It's better to spend your life embracing your faults, doing what you want rather than trying to fix something you may not be able to. You've got one life, and it's up to you to make it the best one you can.
And to Insecurity?
Good riddance.
~Anika Rudra
You suck. A lot.
Don't play the victim here, you know you're the root cause of literally everything. Ok yeah, I will admit that you have made me realise many of my own faults, such as how overly cautious and guarded I kept/keep myself. BUT HEY you ruin everyone's life at one point. That's a pretty dumb move.
For example, Napoleon Bonaparte was apparently so insecure about his height since he was mocked in the British papers, he started wars to prove himself. And he's taller than me by almost 6 inches. Lucky for me, I'm not that insecure about my height. Pshh, not that much at least...
I'm 5ft 3/4in, okay, that's tiny in my standards.
Insecurity, I'm not sure what your purpose or goal in life is. Maybe it's to just absolutely ruin everyone's life, maybe it to shrink your prey's confidence. Which or whatever the reason is, I think we all have enough power to get over you. Probably not forever, but enough for us to live life. I'm sure of it.
Go ahead trying to knock us down like bowling pins as much as you want, it's not going to work. And to you, wonderful reader, don't let insecurity get to you! You are a human being, and human beings are flawed. You'll understand what you have to, and might need to work on certain other topics. It's better to spend your life embracing your faults, doing what you want rather than trying to fix something you may not be able to. You've got one life, and it's up to you to make it the best one you can.
And to Insecurity?
Good riddance.
~Anika Rudra
Dear Anika,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this letter!! It has the right amount of seriousness, humor and personal account for a deep Open Letter. I especially loved how you mention your own (lack of) hight like tiny letters, and how you acknowledge this is an open letter, but including the reader themselves. You bring so much positivity to this letter, I'm surprised you even have insecurities! Great work!!
Anika, I think you did a great job talking about how insecurity can really consume a person. I also really like how you connected the issue to other people such as the Napoleon Bonaparte reference about how he was insecure about his height. I also really loved the bowling pin metaphor, I feel like that really represented how insecurity can feel sometimes. I think overall this piece is very well written and it really shines light on the problems insecurity can cause us, and the beginning of the journey to overcome it.
ReplyDeleteWell done!
Anika
Thats really cool that you wrote an open letter to something that isn't human. I completely agree with your perspective of insecurity. You did a great job adding humor and sarcasm at the same time. Good Job!
ReplyDeleteAnika,
ReplyDeleteYour open letter is very good! I love how you talk about both the pros and cons of insecurity. I believe what you did is really hard to do, trying to bring the positive out of the negative. Not only that, you connect to yourself and the reader. The way you also make your height font super small is funny since it is like a side note.
Wow. Anika, the language you used in this post was so powerful. The way you personified insecurity ("Don't play the victim here," "I'm not sure what your purpose or goal in life is," "shrink your prey's confidence.") Those three lines actually made me stop in the middle of reading because it shocked me how accurately that describes how I feel about my insecurities and exactly what I would say to it if I could. The comic relief that you added also really let your voice shine through in the piece. The tiny text you used made me laugh out loud.
ReplyDelete"Go ahead trying to knock us down like bowling pins as much as you want, it's not going to work."
Anika, this line is so incredible and beautiful and strong and should be plastered on every wall. It made me feel powerful and hopeful just reading it. I sincerely commend you.
A question I have for you is: Do you think the people who write those "how to overcome your insecurities" magazine articles actually understand how dark and powerless those feelings can be? I feel personally that sometimes they sugar coat it, saying things like "take deep breaths" and "treat yourself a warm bubble bath" but those things are fairly superficial fixes that aren't powerful enough to penetrate my heart and my mind. Do you feel like these so-called "self help" articles really help those who need it? And if not, what would you think should go in their place?
Thank you for such an in depth comment, Alysha! I really appreciate the thought that goes into writing comments like these!
DeleteIn regard to those 'sugar coated' self help articles/magazines: They are most definitely sugar coated, typically when they're written by adults for teens/tweens. Still, there is a bit of truth in them. For example, myself! Just the other day, I sank into a pit of despair when contemplating certain things about myself. This happens to me every once in a while, which is not something I'm very proud of, and in these 'endless despairs', I need to remind myself to do simple self-care things. You don't have to treat yourself, do something as simple as drink a glass of water to help your mental state. Take a shower, read a book, or work on a personal project maybe! I've been trying to keep myself busy with personal mini-projects such as drawing Dungeons & Dragons maps and making a 'vision board' for the future. Watching things like Steven Universe, Roman Holiday and Auntie Mame also really calms me down. [To be very honest, I think drawing and music is my natural coping instinct for negative thoughts...]
Despite this, these things are NOT permanent solutions. They'll only make you feel better for the rest of the day (at a maximum), that's what these sugar coated teen magazines don't tell you. Positivity is a hard thing to earn when our adolescent minds are racing about. Personally, things that have slightly more long term effects are: being around positive people, people who make me feel valid as who I am, spending less time on social media (it's really hard for a nerd like me though), and just generally spending more time in a calm, quiet area. Another example might be my Spotify playlists, they're all over the place, but there's one for every general mood (plus some extra). I like to name them all really randomly, such as "life's pretty okay" for positivity (not necessarily happiness), "anger be gone" for... anger, "head home" for general nostalgia, "quiet" for that chill feeling you get when you're sipping a milk tea, etc. Placing yourself in a positive atmosphere really helps the mental health/state.
An important thing to remember is that it's okay to have 'bad days', they happen to the best of us. 'Bad days' as in when you wake up and just feel terrible, when you feel vacant and hollow, when no thoughts pass through your head and internally, you're alone. In fact, I actually had one of those days today. It's horrible, but it'll pass. It's the simple things, after this, I'm going to go get 9 hours of sleep :')
Anyway, I hope you find a source of positivity, I'm sure it'll show up soon enough! Everything will ease up, just be sure of that and it'll come true.
Hope this helped! Remember, I'm not a professional- I don't have much experience on the healing side of stuff, so please do check reliable sources.
~ Anika R.
((Sorry for such a long reply, I didn't realize how long this was until I reread it!))