Why do you pretend to be happy?
I’m thinking of how strange the holidays will be this year and this piece by Neha Ravindra spoke to me. It’s titled “Why Do You Pretend to Be Happy” and she personifies depression in beautiful prose that grabs hold of you in brings you deep into its world. My favourite moment of this piece happens near the beginning:
Today you were at your weakest, running around in desperate attempts to make ends meet. I was helpless, far away, and incompetent. I watched you through your struggle, but the barricade that separated us told me not to try. It warned me to stay away and I couldn’t pass by.
Jazmine Dessarae also contributed a unique piece to CRY. She compares the creative process to gestation in a story titled Isolation Gestates the Gifts of the Artist.
Like an expectant mother carrying a seed for the first time, you may experience feelings of anxiety, joy, nervousness, awe, and self-criticism. While we are aware that two entities are needed for co-creation, how you birth what you carry is primarily dependent on you. Only you can feel your seed burgeoning and becoming in a way that no one else could ever understand. They may bear witness to the result, but you know intimately well the process of being alone with that in which you carry.
Finally, first-time contributor Carlos Anthony discusses a topic we’re all too familiar with in his piece titled “Confidence and Creativity.”
I spend the next couple of days wondering, do I matter? Or why do I matter? I reflect on all the hard work that I’ve done to get me to this point. Still, I want the most validation from the people who remind me that I’m not enough because my work has not yet produced any benefit for myself or them, such as a house, car, followers, etc. I’ve increased my network to sell myself to the world. But what good is it if I’m continually being rejected or ignored?
The submissions keep getting better and better. As we head into the month of December, we’re going to keep calling on our writers to share their perspectives on how this holiday season promises to be one like never before.
Why do you pretend to be happy? was originally published in CRY Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
