30-Day Writing Plan – FINAL DAY – Stars

“write about life from the POV of a constellation”

All my life, I’ve heard kids sing “twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are”. First things first, I’m not little. Secondly, I’m just a star, nothing more, nothing less.

It’s fascinating to see humans being creative in how they see me and my kind. They draw lines in between us, and oftentimes, I don’t even know who that other star is in the same line as me. After all, we’re light-years away. How would you expect me to know? And how on their little planet called Earth could they say that those lines resemble their animals and such… I wish I could ask, but I’m just a star, steadily burning myself with every passing year.

It’s funny how humans “wish upon a star”, see us as signs of their future, good luck or well-being. Some even see us as ways to interpret compatibility with their soulmates. Like, seriously, we’re light-years away, how am I even connected to you? Humans are fascinating to think of everything that we are without having met us, while we just burn away until God-knows-when. Looking so far for answers, thinking we resemble animals and ancient figures, when the answers they seek are closer to them than they could ever think.

We are all just stars, burning away in the limitless universe, and one day we’ll be black holes.

But for us to be seen as all sort of things… Humans are fascinating indeed.

And while they wish upon us little stars, and while they connect us stars who don’t know each other, and while they they assume who’s born under which star is compatible with who, I burn away, while wishing what it was like to be human.

Because for them to see so much in us stars is fascinating.

Are they? Or are they not?

– nazriq

30-Day Writing Plan Day 29: Future

“write a letter to your future self”

Never forget what you went through. Never forget why you started. And never forget your principles.

Time and time again, you’ve seen how those who lost their principles end up, and you seen how no matter how hard it is to hold on to your principles, it was always worth it.

It will always be worth it.

Never compromise, and hold on tight to what you believe as long as it’s right.

Not everyone is going to understand, and that’s okay. That’s not going to make you die.

While not respecting and honoring yourself won’t make you die, it will make life feel uneasy.

I have no idea how the future is going to be like.

But at least you have an idea of what you’re like.

So never, ever let go 😉

– nazriq

30-Day Writing Plan Day 28: Past

Writing a letter to my past self is not exactly easy. Heck, facing our own self is probably one of the hardest things to do for a lot of people.

There’s so much I wish I could tell my past self. But if there’s one thing I want my past self to know, it’s that everything is going to be worth it.

Pain and depression really do suck. There’s no point saying they don’t.

But when they say things don’t last forever, that rule also applies to bad things.

Those dark days are numbered. You’ll have your moment to shine. You’ll be able to do and achieve things you never thought you ever could.

You just need to hang in there and not give up. Don’t. Ever.

It may seem dark at that time of life, but trust me, if it’s truly dark, you wouldn’t be able to feel that the wrong things are wrong. If things were truly dark and bleak, you would end up being as bad as the others.

It’s worth it, I promise. You may be surprised by how things will end up 🙂

– nazriq

30-Day Writing Plan Day 27: Pause

“write about a day if society stood still”

If the whole world stood still at this very moment, a huge difference could be made.

The covid-19 pandemic is real. The only thing more real than that is what we do.

We can make a difference.

Stay still, stay at home.

Don’t be the reason things go out of control. Just stay still at home.

– nazriq

30-Day Writing Plan Day 26: Perspective

“write about a past moment you look at differently now”

If there’s something about the past I definitely look at differently today, it would be the mistakes and pain I went through.

Once upon a time, I thought mistakes were fatal. Make one, and you lose all chances to make things for good. It’s like you had to get everything as perfect as possible when it comes to anything or everything.

But that’s not how life is supposed to be. We’re supposed to learn from mistakes.

The saying “we learn from mistakes” is one that I never truly understood until I realized why those mistakes happened.

Whatever you choose to call it, be it divine intervention or anything you’re comfortable with, these mistakes happen for a reason. And when these mistakes happen, sometimes, we won’t understand why on Earth it happened. Oftentimes, we punish ourselves too much. We can be our own worst enemy by being too hard on ourselves.

However, when the time comes, when things finally fall in place. you’d finally realize why those things happen. Sometimes, it happens to stop you from another worse mistake that could potentially happen at that time. And sometimes, the mistakes happen so that when another potential mistake could happen in the future, you know what to do, with the experience you’ve been through.

I’m not asking anyone to purposely commit mistakes aimlessly. Now, that’s just brash and unreasonable.

But at the times when we’re purely human and purely careless or do things by accident or by mistake, while it may hurt to do something “wrong”, there’s always a reason it happened.

I wish I knew it earlier, but thinking back, if I haven’t learned from my mistakes and did everything “perfectly” the first time, my ego would be sky-high and I wouldn’t have the level of empathy I have today.

And missed chances sometimes do come back. You just never know. Sometimes, an opportunity you missed more than 20 years ago can come back. Like a full circle, I guess.

And when things fall into place, with the lessons we’ve learned from our mistakes, all the wounds we’ve had will fade and reveal the beauty we’ve never realized was there all along.

– nazriq

30-Day Writing Plan Day 25: Family

Family is something that’s interesting to think about.

All of us are born into different types of families, each with its own sets of quirks and challenges. Some are in families due to bloodlines, some are in a family for different reasons. Some are together, some are barely holding it together. They may help form who we are, but they don’t exactly define us.

Then, there’s also the people around us who we adopt as a family – our dear friends, our camaraderie, and our trusted colleagues.

No two people have the same kind of family. Even within one family, there may be different groups or clusters, and each member of the family has a different role.

What life is all about is finding our place in our respective family, be it our “actual” family or not, and finding out how we can be the best version of ourselves in that context.

It may not be easy, but it’s worth it 🙂

– nazriq

30-Day Writing Plan Day 24: Party

“write about hosting the party of a lifetime”

I’m not exactly the kind of person who parties. Heck, I can be a really private person.

But last year was crazy. I never expected 2500+ to show up my wedding. It’s a blessing to cherish for years to come. Thank you to those who came. It was one crazy party of a lifetime indeed 🙂

– nazriq

30-Day Writing Plan Day 23: Begin

“write about a new era and your intentions”

At the time of writing, the COVID-19 pandemic is still on-going. There’s still no cure or vaccine found. Lives are changing and industries are forced to rethink the way work is done. I’m writing this entry as a new era is about to unfold.

My intentions are simple: if I could inspire someone to be better, or give someone a new idea to make a difference in this new era, no matter how small or big that effort might be, it already makes me happy. The era we used to be in was full of fake news, false information and a whole lot of negativity. We surely don’t want to carry that forward into the new era, do we? Let’s have hope and give it to those who need it most.

All of us might be physically apart, but in this new era, we can truly be close at heart 😉

– nazriq

30-Day Writing Plan Day 22: Earth

The Earth, the very planet we live in, could be reflection of us humans. It has diverse flora and fauna, and that’s just like us – we’re diverse. The Earth may be beautiful, but it’s also fragile, and the effects of not treating the Earth properly, well, we’ve seen the signs already. The same can be said about us when you think about it.

With the current pandemic, we get to see how we’ve taken the Earth for granted.

But have we taken ourselves for granted, too?

– nazriq

30-Day Writing Plan Day 21: Recharge

“write about an activity that replenishes you”

Playing video games!

It’s kind of crazy to see how the perception towards gamers and gaming has changed so much over the years. Once upon a time, gamers were seen as reclusive and problematic, with some news outlets even attributing video games as an influence for criminals.

But today, we have esports, and many charity events that involve video games. The tables have surely turned!

And it’s the ultimate leisure activity. It’s fun, a great stress-buster, it improves coordination and motor skills, and you get to know so many amazing people in an blossoming community.

If you aren’t a gamer, perhaps you should try it out too, especially with the current quarantine still going on world, what better way is there to keep yourself occupied? 🙂

– nazriq