By Hanya Ashraf

I could always relate to the marionettes walking peacefully on the stage to entertain people. I could almost feel their urge to get their scissors out of their pockets and cut the strings connecting them to the controlling marionettist, but they are too afraid of what the audience is going to think of them.

Have you ever felt like this?

Have you ever felt that you are the marionette, society standards are the strings you wish to rip and finally the audience are the ones continuously judging you?

‘We live in a society that does everything it can to conform’, a statement by the famous Paulo Coelho which purely describes the struggle of every single creative mind. Unfortunately, we hate being visibly different, so instead we all became boringly similar. We all listen to the same music, talk the same way, hang out in the same places and whoever uniquely stands out becomes the archery board people start aiming arrows at.

We all need to use our own glasses while viewing our lives rather than using others’. We all need to start doing more of what we believe is healthy for our soul, whether it’s joining ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ when you cannot even move an arm or if it’s simply lying on your bed doodling. We all need to believe that in order to complete a rich painting, Grey is needed as much as Yellow.

So, if you have the ability to block any hassle from the roaring outside world, what are the things that you are going to do that will make you happy?