How-to on Being a Human

i want to say it's not that hard. but it is, truly.

you forget to breathe for a moment and then you have to do it manually. it takes over whatever you might be doing. just breathing. in, out, in out, but it's all you can focus on until your body takes it over again.

keeping balance when you wear different shoes. breaking in different shoes, dealing with the discomfort and possible pain. monitoring how you eat so you don't bite your tongue or your cheek or your teeth clash together in that ugly sensation that sends shivers up spines. so perhaps there's near too-much to say on how to be a human.

to not overextend, whether it be your limbs or your kindness. to watch what you say in order to not damage other people. to find, try, and wear clothes, pin up your hair - though these are optional, not wearing clothes may get you some weird looks.

to speak. to be kind. to know what to say to not have others turn away. to know how to move your limbs, from the hip to the dainty pinky to even not-limbs, the eyes, the tongue, the mouth. to see, to see beyond what a person gives off, portrays themselves as.

to truly understand others is what it's like to be human, not just how you act as a human yourself. to know what a small head-tilt means, what a stance means, what words flecked with emotions are and what they hide. the psychology of colors, of words, of names, what one person calls themselves - are they kind to themselves? do they speak of how great they are, how some people hate them, or do they not speak of themselves at all? do they talk about others, and if so, how do they?
what do they think of themselves, truly?

perhaps it is wrong to base yourself off of others. to absorb aspects of others' personalities - whether real or fictional - and become something new. to combine parts of people that may not even know of each other, to create yourself. maybe it isn't wrong. you yourself are the product of generations of others that came before you, each different yet made up of those that came before. to be made of someone else is not a new concept, but it isn't entirely human, either.

Abriatis

NY

YWP Alumni

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