As you float stranded in the middle of the ocean, no one else in sight. Locked away from the outside world, prohibited accesses to any face to face contact. Alone. Drowning in a body of water as reckless waves continue to push you further down in the darkness. We lived what felt like normal life onshore, in the sand, no water nearby. Going to school five days a week, partaking in sporting events and extracurriculars, working a 9-5 job on the weekends to make a little extra money. We lived our normal life. Until everyone was unexpectedly thrown into the ocean, the waves from the water were fun at first. We'd only be in the water for a short time, vacation at most, a break from reality. It would all be done soon enough and life would return to our normal. But, as countless days passed, we began to feel isolated in the middle of the ocean. Nowhere to go and no new surroundings to see. As we roll into week 17 of our so-called “vacation”, we are drowning. The water begins pulling us in deeper and deeper down, drowning in nothing but our own thoughts and emotions. Mental health issues strick an ultimate high with 45% more people now struggling with these issues because of this ocean. As we take our last breath of normal life, the water drags us down into a dark, unknown place. Depression, anxiety, substance abuse, comes crashing down on us like the waves of the ocean eliminating our ability to even grasp a breath of our passed normal life. The waves continue to pummel in, one after another, crashing down harder by the second. Unemployment, increase in COVID numbers, even the death of loved ones, all strike you further down into the water. You are now the farthest down in the dark you've even been. Experiencing thoughts like never before. Just you, alone, in the middle of the bottom of the ocean, no grasp of what it feels like to breathe normal air. Day by day new waves push you down more into the dark waters but you are not even affected anymore. You don't struggle, don't try to even attempt to not sink down. You go into the darkness making no effort to fight the pain of drowning. Some days you get pushed onto the shore, a little light in your life. Life feels so surreal, there is not a worldwide pandemic, but instead just you and your best friend. A taste of what normal life once felt like, a day outside with friends, funny jokes with your mom, finally finishing that show you binge-watched, but no matter how hard you try to stay in that moment forever. How hard you fight back to get your normal again the waves always will pull you back into the water. Bring you back down into that darkness of the ocean, alone, again. As you reach the surface of the water you can see the horizon, you can see normal life again. The life that we took for such guaranteed but would do anything to be able to breathe a single breath of that normal life just once. But the uncertainty strikes your eyes like fear. Having absolutely no idea when you will be able to reach that horizon? How far away it is? When will life every be so-called normal again? When will we be able to make it back to the horizon? But you have to continue to swim to try to make it there, day by day, because no matter the uncertainty, we will make it to that horizon. No matter how long it takes or what roadblocks come your way, eventually, you will. You will make it to that horizon. Be able to breathe than normal air, onshore, with no waves to pull you into that darkness that once overtook your mind. Eventually, we will be normal again, do not let the fear and uncertainty overcome the optimism.

We humans often forget about the purpose of life. Life is like a song; it has ups & downs but it does not stop. It goes on and on and after a certain period, it stops for good. So ultimately you have only one song in your entire life but the content of your song is being written by you. This is how we are unique from one another. Here I am about writing my own song. And the main watchword of my song is Hope. Every day I hope to see the new sun which shines brighter than the previous one. But as the day passes by, I get to realize that the day is as dull as before. I question myself so often what is the point of my life? When I was a kid, I could not talk properly. While I got nervous, I started to stammer and could not express what I wanted to. Once I was participating in a science festival where I was presenting my project. A visitor came and told me to explain it then and there, I instantly got nervous and could not say a word in front of him. What a shame! That day I questioned myself about my worth, my ability; I felt so low. I dreamt to become a motivational speaker whereas I could not say a word in front of the stranger. I thought of it as a consequence of humiliation. Ever since, I vowed to myself that I would make a turnabout in my life. I started to practise more and more until I stopped hesitating to talk in the presence of people. I constructed it as a challenge for myself and I successfully overcame it. It gives me the urge to overcome all the problems and helps me find the solutions to every situation. But there was a time when I was in constant pain. It was more like a wicked perception which changed the meaning of my life, on the contrary you may call it depression. People often fall ill with depression, they lose themselves in the battlefield of living where living is the only reward. Mostly people often keep themselves occupied with physical check-up, they often overlook maintaining the mental health. They disregard the fact that our physical condition relies on our mental condition. I never support giving up. Many things are battling inside of my mind but I never learn to give up. Like after every night, the sun rises and lighten our world; our sufferings will pass away when the good days will arrive. As a final year grad student, things are really hard to decide in which plan I should stick in. Enormous responsibilities are forthcoming. I would be introduced with a whole new world. This feeling breaks me each time whenever I think of it. What if I fail to locate a fine good job? What if I disappoint my parents for not being what they want me to be? I am torn apart whenever I think of it. I will blame the society for creating the storm inside of me. It seems like this society nourishes negativity to raise us. It makes me wonder how the flowers have stopped to bloom. This negative wave turns the flowers into depressed souls. But one thing I want to ask the society keenly, “Did you ever think of preaching love instead of hatred?” Our life would be quite simpler and easier then. We should stop following the shadow that guides us towards darkness. Because I believe in Light. Life is tragic. Nothing goes on as per our expectation but still life goes on. We must overcome the negativity to make the world a better place. I have valid reasons to feel miserable. But this is also me who comprehend the situation as fixable. For this, the first and foremost work is to change the notion of the society. Nothing but spreading love of positivity can defeat it. Once when I was in class four, I got terribly sick. I was so dedicated to my study, so I could not even miss going to school. That very day, my body temperature got extremely high and suddenly I puked in front of the whole class. The situation was quite embarrassing, I almost cried for what just happened. My teachers helped me get clean but that day something worse happened. After getting cleaned up when I started to continue my lecture, nobody sat with me; not even my best friend. She stopped talking to me from the very day. I still don't know what was my fault. In which parameter she judged me, I don't know. Actually I don't want to know anymore. From that day, I decided to be humble to everyone. If you are being judged for the blames that you aren't responsible for, stop caring about it. Because life is wonderful. Life never stops to amaze you whether it is for good experience or bad. But never give up. There is a saying that the deeper the dark, the closer the dawn. Wait for the dawn. The dawn will arrive and take all the dark shadows from you.