Remember, “living life” is about both joy and heaviness. About meetings and partings. About hugs and loneliness. About loud songs and complete silence. About laughter and emptiness. It’s better to live like a human, experiencing everything, than to live with a soul full of longing.

I remember that when I immigrated to the USA, I used to cry a lot. Cry about the past, an unknown future, cry about longing and not knowing, cry about adaptability and non-adaptability, about my pico English; nobody would understand.

When I started making cheerful American friends, they were like, ‘Why are you crying?’ And I would be like, ‘Because I want to cry; this is what my mind, body, and soul ask for!’

Nowadays, I cry much less. But once in a while, I still love to have one healthy cry followed by a good laugh.