Dance the Sorrow Away

Teraskota, BSD

The night was quiet. It was a Thursday night and not many people crowded the mall. A group of musician was playing in the center of the mall, playing some Indonesian song and also English ones. Yet nobody was paying attention. The mall patrons looked so busy with their purchases and their business that night, nobody stopped to look. 

The man and the woman walked through the mall holding hands, with smile on their face and looked so obviously punch-drunk with love. The woman instinctively sway her body at the sound of the music. Her partner looked at her in amusement, and he stopped and point at the band, saying something to the woman. She bursted in laughter and shake her head while still laughing. He pulled her arm and dragged her to the front of the band, she was laughing and shaking her head all the way, happily protesting.  He laughed and hold her close as if he's going to dance with her right there, in the middle of the mall. The woman grin and hold him too, as if accepting his challenge. A split second later they burst into laughter and left the band immediately, apparently deciding against dancing in the mall.

I recalled the memory vividly, and grinned all the way to the office. It was a particularly difficult week for me, and I miss my boyfriend a lot. One thought lead to another, and I ended up recalling that night at Teraskota. Suddenly my days got a lot better, and all my fears were being washed away.

I've been hearing about the magic of memories for years, how "Happy Thought/Memory" was promoted as an all-ailment cure and how it could help increasing your quality of life. The key is, they say, to think Happy. Probably. I've been brainwashing myself with all "happy"thoughts I could muster, and still I found myself trapped in unhappiness. I would guess it's a matter of being content: some people felt content with their life, others for some reason can not. Yet.

For me, that's the catch. You can't just "think happy". You need to experience the happiness to really feel happy. How? Be open to new experience. Laugh and enjoy even the craziest that happened to you. Love someone. Love your life.

Logically, it would be almost impossible to feel happy when you think your life is terrible and you have no one, despite how hard you try to dispute/hide the fact and tell everyone: "I love being alone." Humans are social creature by default. Everybody needs somebody. And even if you still insist to be the lone wolf or something, your smile and kindness can still spark some happiness in people (though you wish they stayed at least 5 meters away from you). Misery loves company, but happiness demands a full-fledged crowd!

The day was waning and I slumped in front of my work desk, trying to shake the fatigue and get more work done. It has been a long day. But then I remember our almost-dancing escapade and I smiled. We will definitely dance there one day.