Heart of a girl, Charm of a woman
“You have the heart of a girl and the charm of a woman.”
This is what one of my very good friends recently said to me. No doubt, I was flattered and honored beyond measure.
What it meant to me, well, she can’t even imagine because it’s been more than a month and I still haven’t forgotten it. But I think I know she was right. Somehow, since I was a kid, I knew I had a tendency to be a ridiculous baby one minute and a grown-up just the next.
I’m often told by my peers and my family that your mind is far beyond your years. Quite mature, responsible, disciplined. But even then I have a side to me which is still a young girl, a girl who believes in the good of people, a girl who wears her heart on her sleeve, who’s not afraid to trust people with her heart, unapologetically honest, a girl who’s innocent enough to forgive and believe in second chances.
As I grew into womanhood, I came across various instances wherein the girl’s heart was put to the test, making that heart face the brutality of humankind, the wrath of nature and the wiles of men. I will say, the disappointment, the hurt, the betrayal, they came close to almost breaking that heart. That jovial heart, that just wanted to be happy and spread happiness.
Till this friend pointed out an amazing fact in my personality, I didn’t even realize that while I made that transition from a girl into a woman, I was already employing the ways I learned on the way to maturity, into protecting that heart which belonged to a girl. I’ve often heard people say they never realized when they left their young innocence behind, they just kept letting their circumstances shape who they’ve become now. Yes, my circumstances, my experiences have made me who I am but only for the better. Trust me, I’m not an optimistic person, so to say, but I haven’t let the bitter experiences in life make me bitter. It is also true that now I have a better judgement when it comes to trusting people, but even then I make mistakes and it’s all right!
It really took me a long time but I’ve realized I will make mistakes, I will be fooled, charmed, tricked, betrayed and what not multiple times in life, but that will not stop me from living open- heartedly. I will not cower into a shell because the fear of coming out of it is ever present.
Well then, how do I do it? How is it that I see things and people for what they are and not let that glimmer of hope fade away? The answer is to protect that beautiful heart which harbors hope. Hope for a better tomorrow, for a better life, for a better world. That little flicker of hope that resides in the heart of a girl gives courage to the woman drawing life from that very heart. It gives her courage to dream, big and wild things. It doesn’t matter whether they come to life or not. What matters is as I travel along this journey called life, I’m assured that I have only to look into my heart to find happiness again.
