Kern Carter's Blog, page 68
December 13, 2021
Call For Submissions — What Do You Wish The World Looks Like In 2022?
We’re approaching the end of the year and that usually means a lot of reflection and rounds of new year’s resolutions. Well, this is CRY Magazine so you know we take things next level.
Instead of telling us about your personal resolutions, tell us what you want the world to look like in 2022. If you had a magic wand, what would you wish the world to be? Really push your imagination on this one.
Same rules still apply:You can submit to this or ANY of our past writing prompts. Just scroll through our previous newsletters. They’ll be marked “Call for Submissions.”If you’re already a writer for CRY, go ahead and submit.Be as creative as you want in your submissions. As long as you stick to the topic, we’ll consider it.Just because you submit doesn’t mean we’ll post. If you haven’t heard back from us in three days, consider that a pass.Please reach out if you have any questions at all. We can’t wait to read your submissions!
[image error]Call For Submissions — What Do You Wish The World Looks Like In 2022? was originally published in CRY Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
December 12, 2021
Repercussion Percussions
Eruptions wait for the coolCool to nurse old woundsSo thicker skins can growLess doubt. What becomes weak from waitingFor a while…
December 11, 2021
December 10, 2021
There’s Freedom Here — In No Longer Holding It Together
In my own life at least, the Universe ensures everything happens on time and as needed. Yet…
On Not Knowing and Hope
Photo by Tama66 on PixabayIt is 5 A.M. in the morning. I am lying in my bed with my eyes wide open, staring into the darkness that has engulfed my room. Throughout the night, I didn’t sleep a bit. I got stood up by it once again. It has been like this for eight months now, and I don’t know what to do about it. I tried therapy, but it only worked for a week or two. If sleep were a commodity like tissue paper, available at a local shop, I would be hoarding it right now.
Lately, I feel like I have lost control over my life. It seems like I don’t have a plan. The future feels overwhelming, and I can’t get hold of the past. All of my dreams remain unaccomplished, and my life is changing colors faster than a chameleon. Sometimes, I feel like I am running around like a headless chicken. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing?, where the fuck I’m going, which path I’m choosing?
Career-wise I hit a roadblock. I need to make a decision that would seriously impact my future, whether to go for a Ph. D. abroad or take up a job in some company.
To be honest, I am not ready for either of them. I desperately need a break. I just want to go on a vacation, and do nothing. I want to sit on the beach, feel the sun, read those books that I wanted to for so long, drink some wine and just relax.
You know what, I am only kidding myself by daydreaming about all that, but the truth is I can’t do any of that stuff. Sooner or later, I have to make up my mind about my future, and it is seriously stressing me out.
The other day I was talking to an old friend of mine, who currently is grinding and hustling his way in the U.S. At some point in our conversation, we started talking about our future plans. He started to explain to me his five-year plan in vivid detail.
Though I acted like I was listening, but inwardly I was envious. In my mind, I was like, “For Fuck Sake, Piss Off, Man!! Not this again!!” Don’t get me wrong. I am not envious of my friend. I was in envy about his plan, his telling me how his life would pan out in the next five years.
I am perpetually amazed by such people. Those who answer dreadful questions like, What’s next? Where do you see yourself in five years? with unabashed confidence, like they’re onto something…They know! Oh, they know!
But what do I know?
I don’t even know whether I’ll get sleep tonight or if I’ll have breakfast tomorrow morning. It is in these moments I pause and wonder, How? How do people live with a sense of certainty in this uncertain world? I just don’t get it, and moreover, it’s that smug clarity that others seem to have, and I don’t.
Like, really, am I missing something here? I feel like I have lost that sense of purpose in my life. I have this constant sinking feeling of not knowing, and it’s killing me from inside.
All I can do for now is be resilient. I know this is just a phase in my life, and these times too shall pass. I know that I have put in a lot of effort. I’ve struggled through days and nights to be where I am today, and I don’t want to lose it. It’s like I am halfway across the river, the shore is in my sight, but I am too tired to swim, and lost my sense of direction. I cannot stop swimming now, or else I know I will drown. I have to stay afloat and keep on swimming to reach the other side of the river. How can I stay afloat, you ask? It’s through HOPE.
As Emily Dickinson once said:
“Hope is the thing with feathers,
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.” — Emily Dickinson
Hope begins in the darkness
And shines as a ray of light.
It is stubborn.
If you can just show up
and do the right thing,
the dawn will arrive.
It whispers, “Try one more time; you’ll overcome this hardship.”
It re-assures you by saying that “life will only improve.”
It assists the sick to get well and encourages them to recover
by saying that “you’ll get better.”
It comforts the dying and gives them the courage to face the unknown
by saying that “there’s life beyond death.”
It provides the power of faith by instilling the will to believe
And motivates us to persevere through life.
Hope is not wishful thinking, nor is it magical thinking. Hope is an emotion, a mindset, a belief, a motivation, that despite setbacks and obstacles, despite hardship and misfortune, despite the unknown last chapter of your life’s story, you believe that your life will work out, that when you take your last breath, there is something else beyond this world.
I have to be hopeful and trust the process. I should live in the moment by taking one step, one day at a time. I know I cannot be everywhere at once so, I have to prioritize and work accordingly. Despite the adversity, I should visualize a positive outcome and keep at it. I know I can do this.
Lastly, quoting Maya Angelou (though it may be slightly out of context, but you get it, right!)
“You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.”
Inspired by Kern Carter’s following pieces
Call For Submissions — Searching For Hope | by Kern Carter | CRY Magazine | Nov, 2021 | Medium
No, I Don’t Need A Break. I’m almost there… | by Kern Carter | Dec, 2021 | Medium
and Drashti Shroff’s My Journey Towards Unbecoming. I am in the phase of knowing myself… | by Drashti Shroff | CRY Magazine | Nov, 2021 | Medium
[image error]On Not Knowing and Hope was originally published in CRY Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
December 9, 2021
Editor Picks — Our Favourite Relationship Posts
This week, Safia and I are choosing our favourite posts that talk about relationships. There are quite a few, and there’s such variation in the interpretation of the word relationship, it made some of the stories really stand out.
That said, we narrowed it down to one each. Let us know what you think:
KernOne of my absolute favourite writers on Medium is Tre L. Loadholt. Talk about inspirational; Tre writes prose and poetry with such grace and purpose and attitude that I get jealous of her talent. Seriously. She is incredible.
The piece I’m choosing this week is called You Should Take More Chances. No preamble about why I love it, you read for yourself:
There is a woman — there’s always a woman or a man, yes? Isn’t that how most stories go when we’re reminiscing or thinking about what we could have done differently or what we may have missed? There is someone or something perfectly placed within our path to mislead — misdirect us. But, there is a woman. She is new. And she could be someone on loan to me for a short while to lend what my life needs at this moment. Or, she could remain here for an entire season and a few more seasons to come, but who knows? She is here now, and I am terrified.Safia
One of my favourite relationship posts on CRY is Mother, a complicated subject by Sylvia Wilde; a poem that beautifully illustrates the raw pain and turbulent dynamic between mother and child.
An excerpt that captured my attention:
For what
kind of
monster
can’t forgive
the person
perhaps
most beloved
in all the
world?
And what
kind of
fool
won’t
choose
escape
from
the force still
inflicting
fresh cuts
atop
wounds
that[image error]
never
scarred?
Editor Picks — Our Favourite Relationship Posts was originally published in CRY Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
