Feelings and Metrics

Oh how often have I heard:

“Hey why are you worrying so much? It’s not such a big issue.”
“You’re making a big deal out of it. Don’t cry and make a scene. Here’s a tissue.”

Or

“Worrying is not going to help. It’s not worth fretting over so much.”
“Why are you so affected? It’s just a bump, as such.”

Share your problems and seek help, they say.
But once I start expressing the pain,
everyone wants my feelings
to just walk themselves away.

After a lot of trial and error
I learnt that I can seek a listening ear.
If I follow these rules, they’d hear:

I should filter out my feelings
to make them acceptable for you.

I should break my walls to express
but tone it down for you.

I should let myself be vulnerable
but control the dam’s flow, for you.

The whole world wants to decide
how much I should and shouldn’t feel
like there is some metric to adhere to.

Everyone wants to tell me
I should only worry to “this” degree.
And I have overstepped the boundary.

Oh but you, the listening ear.

How about we measure the audacity
with which you’re presuming you’re right?
How about you tone down that overconfidence
which makes you think you know my fight?

Sometimes, it takes immense courage
to talk about one’s troubles.
When someone tells you theirs,
you brush it off like foolish babble?

We’ve all been moulded differently
to handle the difficult and the mundane.
Lend your shoulder if you can.
But don’t invalidate the extent
of someone’s pain.

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