Category : Stories

Sub Category : Adventure

Anna loves reading, she always sit under an old acacia tree behind her grandma (Gogo) antiquity house reading story books she borrowed from her school library, she loved reading sorry stories; stories that talk about loss, regret, sorrow, failure, unfortunate, or anything that  goes with deplorable. She enjoyed reading such stories as she believed they described her life, every time she read such stories she felt like she was not the only one in such a state of life forgetting they were just creative words put together by talented writers. she hated the environment she lived in; every day she sit under the tree; it always seems to be the perfect time for the birds to start their birdy conversations and choir practises, and she hated it, she hated them, she will always stand up and start throwing stones in the tree branches for them to leave, but the birds kept coming back the moment she sits down to start reading. If it’s not the birds it’s the neighbour’s kids fighting over toys or noises from cars that are passing by. But mostly she hated her life; she believed it was the worst life ever! 

One usual evening Anna was reading another sad story, the story was about a sad girl that ended up committing suicide, and suddenly she began to fill her mind with suicidal thoughts, she began talking to herself, a conversation she thought was just happening in her mind when in reality she was saying it out loud “why didn’t I think of this earlier? If I could have thought of this earlier I could be peacefully resting now, dead, gone and free from this horrible world full of stupid birds making noise and loud neighbour’s kids always fighting……..” her speech was cut short when she saw Gogo standing at the window looking at her with teary eyes, Anna stood up and quickly rushed in the house, straight to her bedroom with a shame filled face. She was still sitting on her bed when Gogo came in holding old pictures in her hand; she threw them on the bed and sat beside her. “See this pictures…do you recognise the woman in them? She was a happy person, a very cheerful person who faced the world each day with strength till her death! She had problem too, bigger problems that can’t be compared to birds making noises….but she made sure she faced the world to give you a better future….and now… Now you want to throw that future away by killing yourself?? She paused to wipe her tears ‘’ your life is perfect sweet heart, it’s not the birds or the neighbour’s kids ruining it, it’s you yourself! The way you are looking at it, you are not looking at it like it is but the way you are, if you could only let the birds sing and entertain you as you read; your reading session would be perfect! If you could only tell the neighbour’s kids to stop fighting and share the toys; they would not be fighting every day! If you could only stop reading sad stories and began reading positive stories; you would not be this sad. You have soo much anger inside for the world my child let it go and you will be free and happy……..” Gogo stood up to go, Anna tried to cry a sorry out but Gogo stopped her “don’t be sorry to me child, be sorry for yourself! Go right on and end your life, but know this: whether you are here or not; the world will still be here! Those birds, those birds will continue to sing everyday…..” tears blocked her speech and she walked out of the room leaving Anna crying her shame out.

With tears dropping at her mother’s pictures in her shaking hands; she whispered “I am sorry mama” tomorrow morning Anna woke up early, fixed breakfast for Gogo and went to the library to borrow another book, this time it was not a story book but a self-help book , in the evening after burning up all the sad quotes that were hanged on her bedroom wall; she took a chair and went to sit under the acacia tree to read, the birds kept singing and she read to the rhythm of their song, to her surprise the neighbour’s kids did not fight that day. Anna enjoyed her reading and changed her thoughts on suicide. 

Sometimes we look at things as we are not as they are, Anna looked at things in an angry negative perspective way, the anger for the world that was inside her pushed her to hate everything about her life. It pushed her to focus on things that fed her mind with negative thoughts; thoughts that her life was a disaster. She focused on such thoughts and believed in them, turning a blind eye on good things about her life. Exactly what most people do, they feed their minds with negative thoughts about themselves, focus on sad negative core beliefs and forget how to be positive, how to be nice and happy. If we could only find positivity in most of the things that happen in our lives, we will be the happiest people on earth. All the negativity, sadness, sorrow, self-pity is all in our minds, so as positivity, happiness, fun and a good life, it’s all about what we choose to think. Live life in a moment; but live it in happiness.