Monday, December 9, 2013

Rein it in

Rein it in.

Dial it back.

Tone it down.

The world needs none of your effervescence, ebullience, enthusiasm.

It's the age of 140-character expressions, single-sentence status updates, check-ins, emoticons, grammatically incorrect text messages.

Practise your serious face in front of the mirror every day. Indifference is a good look to aim for.

Try an ironic smile. It's all the rage now. Oh and make sure, no teeth. Smiles which light up your eyes will make you look deranged, so must be avoided at all costs.

Keep your emotions in check. No one appreciates your excitement. It isn't fashionable.

Do not rage and rant. It makes you look ugly. And it makes you look like you care enough for something for it to let it affect you. Caring is unnecessary. And tantrums are unflattering.

Do not cry or show sadness to anyone. Use your pillow, the shower. Any sign of vulnerability is an immediate turn off. It shows a lack of depth of character and an inability to show constraint. No one has time for your drama. No one gives a tiny rat's arse.

Effusive declarations of love will serve for immediate and harsh judgement. Expressing desire, passion, love or even fondness is stupid and childish and will be treated as such. It immediately scares people away.

Hide your emotions. Anything that appears human will be treated as weak. Lock it in. Fold all of it in on itself over and over and over again till it becomes a tiny little rolled up ball of emotion which you can swallow and digest. Locking them up into chests in the dark corners of your brain should also help. Apathy is the aim. Self-preservation is the name of the game.

Tone it down.

Dial it back.

Rein it in.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Not a great time for the verbose or the clown or the mad scientist...The smile part, that made me laugh, in spite of the theme of the piece. (Because you know I always show teeth. It's a product defect
And you're bang on - that's what is expected and accepted as the norm.
Liked this one a lot.
(I like it when you introduce this sarcastic note to the writings)

Ayesha said...

I am SO glad it made you laugh. I've been trying to get that humour factor in my pieces for a while. Also, this one is very close to my heart. Not just in the writing, but in what I'm trying to say.

And yup, I'm glad you get that sarcasm. It's very difficult to convey in text without the reader actually hearing it.