‘You never let someone’s negative opinion of you become your reality.’

What an amazing thought! This line has stayed with me since yesterday night after I watched ‘Nappily Ever After’ on Netflix. It’s a movie based on the book by Trisha R. Thomas about a woman named Violet, who is obsessed with how her hair looks. She is a black woman with fizzy hair and has white girls (read perfect looks) as her competition.

The root cause of her hair obsession is her mother, who has brought her up in a way that she attaches too much importance to looks. Surely, the mother had her own challenges and life experiences to develop that perspective. As life moves on, Violet goes through experiences that bring to the fore her hidden desire to be comfortable in her own skin than looking perfect all the time. At one point, she says something like this:

‘I gained so much time by not thinking about my hair. It was like a second job. I got to think so much about other aspects of my life than hair.’

Ha ha! How true! Indeed, there’s more to life than just hair. Now, let me share my gyaan too as if the movie was not enough to inspire :-).

It is always the right decision to follow your heart even if you feel wronged later on. Even if that means your life journey looks something like this:  disastrous decisions, endless mistakes, failures, becoming a laughing stock, abundant criticism, being a nobody, staying single, marrying thrice, quitting job, starting a business and failing, not finding your way in life, being imperfect and the list may go on.

Get lost in life than being safe and never losing the path. Following your heart comes with its set of consequences. Still, yet, in spite of that and for sure, do all that your heart desires. Not doing what you want to do is the biggest burden you can carry with you when you die.

Bloom, bloom, simply bloom!