Maybe its been made clear to you in the past few years of growing up that what you do affects other people. Things you say offend, things you do hurt, and things you don't say or do can inversely cause the same bad effects. Here's the really messed up problem with your world: there are other people living in it. The world doesn't revolve around you, or me, but in a way, it also doesn't revolve around anyone. The world doesn't revolve around our biodiverse ecosystem but instead is on a completely different axis of its own. Time passes, time doesn't care about anyone, and time is always waiting to speed up when we need it to ease. Maybe we think Time has it out for us, when in reality, time, as the Pearl Poet summarizes, is eternal, and we are fleeting.

And that hurts, in an existential, the-thought-of-eternity-makes-our-brain-explode kind of way. So maybe we need to stop believing we are the protagonist of our lives. Maybe we need to see that we might be the antagonist of someone else's. But that isn't very helpful, is it? To put ourselves down and think that we are one very small piece of a mighty puzzle. We matter, and we are all the writers of our own story. We choose what we do and who we are and how we live, no matter how much science may believe we are only the sum of our genetic parts. But, the thing is, is that all of our choices are affected by everyone around us. Why we do what we do, why we live how we live, no matter how self-centered we are, is to a great extent for other people. Other people rely on us, look to us, love us, hate us, coexist with us. The very substance of who we are doesn't lie solely in our DNA but rather in the first person who made us laugh. It lies in the complex relationships we establish every day whether we like it or not.

So, why is Reese rambling on about the importance of other people? Well, one thing I think I've been taught and heard for a long time is to do things for myself, and to treat myself, and to listen to my heart. And here's the conclusion I've come to: loving yourself is good, treating yourself well is good for others too because it presents a healthier version of yourself to the world. But stop being greedy. Stop believing that what is yours is yours and that you have a right to keep everyone from it. Be generous with the world, allow others into your life so you can be molded even farther. When you're offended, realize that people say bad things out of hurt, not out of malice. Maybe, instead of focusing just on ourselves, we should instead focus on how we can be better to the world around us, the people around us, and the enemies we have, and how that, in turn, will make us BE a better person. Maybe doing that will enrich us so much more than a spa-day alone.

Life gets so hard, I know that. I've lived through hard times and been made to feel guilty because from the outside my problems feel small. But, for me at least, I've never found my joy from disconnecting from the world to find myself. I've found it in making that connection stronger. In crying in my friends arms instead of my own. In helping someone out when I'm finding trouble helping myself. There is NOTHING wrong with making sure you re okay and taking your time to heal. But realize that there is a world full of people out there who care, and those who don't, maybe they need a hand to hold as well. But being nice isn't our duty to each other, and it is not a law towards others that we must follow. Instead, it's a little harder and more comlex: it's what we owe to each other.