SCARS ...

If anyone has observed my face properly, they might have noticed that I have a scar on my forehead right above my right eye. I have twisted the story of how it happened to anybody who cared to listen but the short version was that I fell on some concrete and I hit my head on the sharp edge of a gutter. It had to be one of the most grueling of experiences for me as I watched my own blood flow freely from my forehead. At 8 years of age, seeing that much blood was only cool for about 0.01 microseconds if that is actually possible. I was conscious through the whole scenario of being rushed to the hospital and taken to the emergency room and having the gash in my forehead sewed back together and it was so cool how the only pain I felt throughout the sewing process was a tiny itch on my forehead. I was back in school the next day going about my life like nothing happened. Only, I had teachers watching my every step just to make sure I didn’t slip and destroy another body part. I was also a hero for a few days amongst my peers because they were all scared that I was not going to make it with the amount of liquid life I lost the day I fell. No lie, when it happened, I was scared as well.

Till this day, every time I remember to notice my handsome scar, it reminds me of a dangerous injury I survived some 20 odd years ago. Things could have been different though. I had the choice of staying home for a few days to rest but my 8 year old self chose to go to school. Probably not for the learning but just because I wanted to hang out with my friends instead of staying cooped up in the house. It might not have meant much then but it only just made significant sense to me this 2013 year that is about to be over in the next few hours.

As a kid, a scar to me was just a physical marking on your body that reminds you of some injury you had in the past, but I realized later in life that scars were not just physical but also emotional. I have also realized that emotional scars take a greater toll on us than the physical and in some cases, physical scars can also double up as emotional scars and make situations even worse. Most people, if not all of us have our various scars in physical form or in the form of what life has put us through. Failures, disappointments, job losses, loss of loved ones, injuries and sicknesses among others are scars that can change the course of one’s life for the worse.

We should not let this happen. We should not allow whatever scar we have take control of our lives and let that scar dictate how we live. It is true that they can be very painful and very hard to bear and even get over but the decision we make after being hurt can decide what we remember our scars for. My decision to go back to school the next day after my injury bought me a few days of being the coolest kid in the school even among the older kids which was gold back in the day but it meant a lot to me and it kept me going no matter how much pain I was feeling physically. How you act after being emotionally scarred will determine what you remember that scar for and even though people’s opinions should not matter to you, it can also give people an idea of how strong or weak you are. And I’m pretty sure none of us want to look weak in the faces of our peers.

I wasn’t injured in 2013 thankfully, but I have quite a number of emotional scars that could have deterred me from being a sane human being, but thankfully, the year is ending, I am still here and so are all of you reading this. I used to tag scars as emotionally damaging but now I see them as mind builders. Scars will damage us but only if we allow them to. As long as we still breathe, we can choose to be weakened from scars or choose to be stronger and always remember the scars for how strong they made us. It’s up to us really.

I choose to be stronger. How about you?

HAVE A GREAT AND SUCCESSFUL 2014!!!

BIGTYME OUT!!