No Strings Attached

He loved her more than he loved himself and everywhere he went he always came back to her. He could tell other girls he loved them, and maybe he did, but the love he had for her was something bigger than him or her.

And she loved him too, more than she could understand or care to admit and even though she was uncertain of the things she needed, she was sure that she loved him and he meant a lot to her.

And love is not always enough and love was not enough to keep them together, and love turned to hate and it was as though they were ready to tear each other apart.

And for a while, the bond between them got weirder and weaker. And with this realisation, they decided to break away for good. And then came peace, because there was no more weirdness involved. 

With time and age, comes maturity and through this they realised how much they meant to each other, and together they healed and they mended what was once broken. 

The mistakes of the past were lessons learnt, and the bond between both was stronger than it ever was. They loved each other with no strings, and as they grew, they learnt to appreciate that no strings meant no troubles got tangled in between. 

The Artist

To the blue sky he woke every day, and the sounds of cars passing, and people chatting away. People, with their very short attention span he thought, looking at their phones every chance they got, with a cup of coffee on the other hand as they rushed down to work tirelessly for hours just so they could earn enough to get by. 

As always, he folded his makeshift bed and tied it atop his big blue camping bag, a camping bag that had began to lose its colour. No, he did not drink, or smell. He had an easel which he got for a little over 30 dollars and he carried it around everywhere he went.

Everyday he sat at a new location and hoped one or two of the thousands of people that walked by would stop and ask for a painting and in his very good days, he earned 50 to 60 dollars, enough to eat some good meal and get a bed for the night. But he did not, he instead bought more painting materials and books, including good diet plans and healthy living tips for the explorer. Everyday he earned, he invested wisely, and slowly he became better.

One day, a particularly cold Monday morning, as he struggled to set up his "studio" he noticed a man, perhaps in his late thirties, holding what appeared to be a cup of coffee, looking distressed as he sat alone on a park bench.

The painter walked over and asked the stranger what was wrong. Of course, the stranger was reluctant to answer, why would he, it was a homeless man after all.  "I can do two paintings for you free of charge" the painter said. At first, the stranger seemed unbothered, almost as though he had not heard the painter's words. But then his eyes changed, the stranger, as he realised the painter's offer. Keeping his coffee on the side, the stranger said, "yes please, show me what you got" rubbing his palms together as he regained a burst of energy and enthusiasm.

The painting carried and placed his drawing board and 45 minutes later, he had produced "one of the best portraits i've seen myself in" The stranger said. "You have saved me" he added. Clueless, how exactly could his art save a random man sitting on a park bench he wondered. "Here's my card. Come to this address tomorrow. We have business to discuss" said the stranger before getting up to leave. 

The artist got up very early, to give two or three quick sketches the next morning at the price of 1 dollar before heading up to meet with the stranger from yesterday. Outside a tall white building, the stranger sat by the long and wide flight of stairs as the painter approached. "You made it!" He exclaimed, hugging the artist and dragging him towards the building" "I had just one day to produce an artist for the company or risk losing my job. I will admit, i'm a shit scout and I was about to be slapped by reality, but then God gave me another chance. He sent you" "You are about to paint for a bunch of people that will probably judge the person you are from top to bottom. But that does not matter, because you will show them what they've never seen in their miserable pretentious lives"

Hours later, the painter walked out of the building with his signature on a contract that made him 4 million dollars richer. With some of his best paintings up for sale and a place as one of the few creative directors there.

He went back to the University he visited a year earlier to ask for enrolment details. The academic year had started but it was fine by him, he was more than ready and patient enough to wait for a whole year. Taking the train as he usually did, he arrived a familiar part of town, and with a single knock on the door, a girl, probably about 19, opened the door. "Hi, Samira. You are going to college" he said, and she gave him a big hug. She invited him in and for the next few hours, they talked and talked, both excited at life for finally working in their favour. 

After leaving his daughter's place. He went to a place where he used to pray, and at a point sleep when it got too cold. Standing in a small room, with the sound of water dripping from a faulty pipe on the roof, he said to the imam, "in sha Allah, this mosque will be as it should be in the coming months. You gave me shelter when I needed it and this shelter needs some work, so I will" And he did, he kept his promise.

By next year, he had turned the fortunes of the company he worked for around. His daughter was back in college, the local community mosque that once sheltered him was bigger and better.

And through this, every morning before he went to work, he will sit and paint nature before anyone asked to be painted, and he did so for free. And for everything he earned, he shared it with the people that were once like him, homeless, without a roof on their heads.

His only bad habit was that he smoked like a chimney, and he only cut down on his intake after being diagnosed with cancer. Rather than "waste" his earnings on "pointless" treatment that "could not stop the inevitable" he invested in an institution that helped disabled kids as well as kids from underprivileged backgrounds, selling everything he owned and making sure his investment lasted as long as it could even after he had gone. 

In his last days, he chose to go back to sleeping in a subway by night and painting people by day. Eventually, his illness overpowered him. He was not a rockstar or a famous actor. He was not a celebrity and even some of his most valued customers did not know him by name. He was not on the cover of every magazine nor was he known by the public to be the founder of one of the few institutes that catered for the less privileged in that area, nor did they know that he was the sole reason a whole company was saved from dying off.

He believed in himself and he made people happy, he gave even though he had not much, and even though he received less than he gave in return, he was never discouraged to keep giving. He never saw his situation as misfortune, he saw it as an opportunity to be something bigger than the basic human perception of what life must be. 

Achievement

If you are one that wakes up everyday, disappointed with yourself for failing to achieve what you set out to achieve, or for failing to be the person you wish to be by day's end. Be glad that you strive, because striving matters just as much. 

On your first try you will most likely fail; that is not what matters. What matters is that you try again. And again and again until you get it right. 

“Over time, as daily routines become second nature, discipline morphs into habit” Words of wisdom by Twyla Tharp; indeed, if you do something every day, it becomes you, and if good is what you practise and everyday you strive to achieve something great, the number of times you fail only become dumbbells to building your success. 

The whole world telling you that you can't does not carry any weight. If you set your mind to it, and you bring reality into the equation; with persistence, you will achieve more than that which you set out to achieve. You might start with a very specific target, but the sincerity in you, your persistence and the hard work you put may lead you to hit multiple targets at once and successfully.

Serendipity; The iPhone was realised as a result of trying to make something else. With hard work and belief came the realisation that something greater could be achieved; and it happened. The iPhone changed the way the world looks at mobile phones forever. Better yet, the initial idea was realised years later, and the iPad also revitalised the world of tablet computers.

Have your identity, believe in yourself, put in work and do not take no for an answer. Be true to yourself, be confident in the goals you set out to achieve, and when people tell you you can't, show them why you can. 

When people judge you for your shortcomings, ignore them, because everyone knows that we are flawed creatures. The difference between a strong and weak person is that one is mature enough to acknowledge and address every shortcoming. 

Focus on yourself, not others. Do not envy others and their achievements. Do not judge others by their shortcomings, no, focus on yourself and achieve what you want to achieve; focus on building yourself and remind yourself everyday that the ride may not always be smooth. But know that every journey has a destination and only by sitting through the ride will you ever reach that place and beyond. 

Growing Up

As time passes, we grow. Everyday we learn. Life does not always shift in our favour and as we grow older we begin to realise and embrace the fact that every experience matters, good or bad. 

As time passes, and as we grow, we begin to see what matters most in our lives and we begin to think of ways of achieving our goals. Some people want to be the next Beyonce, others want to have a modest and peaceful life, away from all the craziness of life. Whatever our aspirations, as we mature, we begin to work towards achieving something great. 

We meet people along the way, some stay and some don't. But every person plays an important part in building us as people, and if we are wise, we would learn not to take anyone for granted, even the ones that don't mean well. We learn that it benefits us not to build relationships off of deceit and it certainly benefits us not to betray people or the trust they place on us. We do not need to have a million friends, when we have a few honest ones, but we do not have to have a million enemies either. As we mature and grow older, we realise wether friend or not, we strive to be at peace with every single soul we come across. 

We are human and we make mistakes, and sometimes we are selfish in the way we interact with the world but we grow and we realise that it is an everyday struggle to be the best version of us and from this, we strive honestly. We learn to let go of pride, a chronic condition that prevents us from amending broken relationships, from acknowledging our shortcomings, from accepting who we truly are as people. As we grow, we do away with pride, and then we make progress.

We learn that we are not always right, we acknowledge that sometimes, maybe a lot of times, we are at fault and that a different opinion does not mean a reason to fallout. And that we can all live in peace, no matter the difference in age, sex, colour, religion or lifestyle choice. As we grow older, and as we mature, we learn to understand the essence of retaining our values while respecting the values of others, and in that finding peace and comfort everywhere we are.