We are like that only.

I got this in my inbox a week ago. It's an excerpt from someone's new work titled "I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE: The Secret Life of Girls around the World", which debuted in book form (Villard/Random House).

I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE

I love being a girl.
I can feel what you're feeling
as you're feeling it inside
the feeling
before.
I am an emotional creature.
Things do not come to me
as intellectual theories or hard-shaped ideas.
They pulse through my organs and legs
and burn up my ears.
I know when your girlfriend's really pissed off
even though she appears to give you what
you want.
I know when a storm is coming.
I can feel the invisible stirrings in the air.
I can tell you he won't call back.
It's a vibe I share.

I am an emotional creature.
I love that I do not take things lightly.
Everything is intense to me.
The way I walk in the street.
The way my mother wakes me up.
The way I hear bad news.
The way it's unbearable when I lose.

I am an emotional creature.
I am connected to everything and everyone.
I was born like that.
Don't you dare say all negative that it's a
teenage thing
or it's only only because I'm a girl.
These feelings make me better.
They make me ready.
They make me present.
They make me strong.

I am an emotional creature.
There is a particular way of knowing.
It's like the older women somehow forgot.
I rejoice that it's still in my body.

I know when the coconut's about to fall.
I know that we've pushed the earth too far.
I know my father isn't coming back.
That no one's prepared for the fire.
I know that lipstick means
more than show.
I know that boys feel super-insecure
and so-called terrorists are made, not born.
I know that one kiss can take
away all my decision-making ability
and sometimes, you know, it should.

This is not extreme.
It's a girl thing.
What we would all be
if the big door inside us flew open.
Don't tell me not to cry.
To calm it down
Not to be so extreme
To be reasonable.
I am an emotional creature.
It's how the earth got made.
How the wind continues to pollinate.
You don't tell the Atlantic ocean
to behave.

I am an emotional creature.
Why would you want to shut me down
or turn me off?
I am your remaining memory.
I am connecting you to your source.
Nothing's been diluted.
Nothing's leaked out.
I can take you back.

I love that I can feel the inside
of the feelings in you,
even if it stops my life
even if it hurts too much
or takes me off track
even if it breaks my heart.
It makes me responsible.
I am an emotional
I am an emotional, devotional,
incandotional, creature.
And I love, hear me,
love love love
being a girl.

Why do things seem worse in the dead of night?

Why do wounds hurt more, tears gush freely and the heart feel heavier? The defenses are up through the day, but as night falls, they start stripping themselves of their strength to fight and lay themselves open to the onslaught of all the negative thoughts one tries so hard to keep out.

I predicted this year to be a year of big changes. One big change is in the pipeline already, and from where i am, it isn't a very pleasant one. As for the other, well, mere days after a great start to the year, things started going downhill. I am the cause for my own stupidity, i am my own enemy. Assumptions and impatience seem to have ruined things to such a great extent that the hope of going back to how things were appears to be bleak. Neither of these things is good news.

And so my heart is heavier than each step i take. My brain is begging to go into hybernation, soothe itself with a little denial and some delusion. I don't like where i am right now. I will fight it, but i don't like it. And just for that, i'll fight harder.

Happy happy happy!

I travelled. A lot. I was travelling till yesterday.

I loved. A lot. And i lived through it. Correction; survived through it all.

Health was a bitch, but i got the better of that too.

Weight was a monster, but i'm working on taming it.

I ticked a few places off my travel wish-list, and i'm sooooo happy about that.

I managed to retain a part of who i was six years ago.

I managed to do trips with both my parents individually.

Many of my friends had babies, and some of them are expecting, and i'm glad about it.

Work was awesome.

This year, i'm hoping that all of this will come my way in double measures (except for the health and weight bits, which i hope will be cut down by half). A blogger friend whom i have grown pretty fond of said that she foresees a year of happiness and contentment for me. I'll drink to that, my dear. I'll drink to that any day.

So here's wishing all of you a superbly fantastic year of fresh starts and big joys from all of me. Have a blast!