Letting Go Of The Same PersonTwice Mar. 20, 2014 By Kimberly Lim It started off like anything else: a blossoming friendship with endless possibilities. Our conversations were fearless; we talked about everything there was to talk about and more. Our jokes were private, we would laugh over repeats that nobody else could understand. Our time wasted together was not time wasted. The similarities we had surprised us in little instances, we loved the same things not things like music or books but more like the intangible things. Then soon it began to show, you always chose to sit with me at a dining table, you would happen to be going the same direction, our hands would always find an odd way of meeting, you had all of my favorite songs in your phone (even though you secretly never quite fancied Aerosmith). And with each day, you commenced with professing your adoration in the most obscured manner possible because you were never one of grand gestures. (But that was why I liked you so much.) And at that point our friendship was an immense perfection that was difficult to achieve for anyone else. We were great friends but we were just a little more than friends.I never understood what was in a title; to me, it was meaningless and carried many complications. I didnt want to lose what we had because it couldnt get any better than that. It was different for you, you were selfish and just a little more possessive. So from then, things took a downward spiral. Our conversations got shorter and there was always a prior commitment at hand. You stopped trying. It was like dj vu, but I wasnt going to let history repeat itself where I was the fool who tried too hard and got hurt. I wasnt ready to risk it all for what could have been another sloppy, sticky, stupid heartbreak. So I stopped trying and I let you go. I maintained a cool front around you but the what-ifs and could-have-beens were constantly lingering at the back of my mind. It hurts to say this but I still think that Id made the right decision in letting you walk out of my life rather than it be any other way.However, I would have to take the blame for the distance thats between us now. You havent changed at all since we met, but I have, I definitely have. I grew up; I became more ambitious and just a little colder. We now speak like old friends with a faraway memory because you have moved on and its time that I should too. So, when I let go of you now, Im letting go of everything that we shared and our expired possibilities, and most of all, the idea of you and me and what could have been. And this is how I let go of the same person twice.

Even If You Fail, Always Remember To BeginAgain Mar. 19, 2014 By Aman Basra Lets begin again.Again, again, again. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Lets return, go back, and restart what wasnt into what will be. Lets alter the negation of the status quo. What we dont have, what we arent, we can still be. We can erase, you see, we can erase the negation. Things dont have to be defined by what they are not. So you arent where you thought you would be. So you arent living your childhood dreams. So you arent in the city with banana-colored taxis, so you arent writing forthe Times. So you arent even a figment of the projections you once foreshadowed for yourself.Listen to Samuel Johnson andclear your mindof negation,of cant.Because you can. That is the beauty of second chances. Life is an infinite sum of restarts. Failure is not a dead road, failure is a disguised beginning. Point A can be redrawn wherever you please, in any setting at any time. Such is the flexibility of life. You fail, you fail, you fail. Over and over. But you begin just as frequently. Fall on one step, rise up on the next. Its the simplest metaphor of full circles and comebacks. You can be your own comeback. You can be those projections, in full force or slightly altered. Even if you are a neorealist, follow those damned idealistic prescriptions. Haveconvictionin your worth, believe undoubtedly and actuncompromisingly. Be a force ofI can, I can, I canandI will, I will, I will.For once in your life, wear those rather hideous but useful rosecolored glasses and look. Look with bright eyes, with reckless ambition and novel hope. Look at the world like you once did when you werejust a dreamer with your head in the clouds. And if they ask if youve gone astray, if they point at yourperceivedfailures, look back at them and say nothing but just smile. Have faith in your mistakes and the new beginnings they inspire. Have the courage to begin again and make them wonder why you are still smiling.