maya

Before throwing pitchforks at my head or telling me I’m delusional, have you ever realized that nothing ever mattered? 

No, I’m not telling you to drop out of school, become a criminal and live life without a care in the world. In fact, I’m advising you to do the opposite. 

Life wasn’t created to give us more time to rip each layer of ourselves apart. It wasn’t made to help grow envy in our hearts or plant everlasting regrets in our soul. Life was meant to be lived and not just survived through. 

The next time you trip in public and panic as you run to the nearest toilet to avoid potential embarrassment, I hope you remember that the most judgement you’ll face is from the one that’s just run to the bathroom. 

A moment lasts shorter than you think. Once the scene has been cleared, the video has stopped recording and the painting has been glazed, it’s over. 

I often look back on the past and wonder why I would blow up the matter so immensely that my fake scenarios were the ones to break my heart the most. Now, the event isn’t even apart of my most foggy memories, but rather the feelings I manipulated and blew out of proportion. 

I remember going home with a mediocre grade and sobbing endlessly in my room because my friends had “done better”. The feeling had stayed in my heart but now I can’t even remember what I got the grade for. 

These situations only seemed gigantic because of the energy I poured into them. The amount of time and stress I allowed for them to conquer my thoughts and feelings. 

I remember every time my face being buried into my hands as my dad played music with the windows down. It was always in quiet streets where no one was around, yet I still felt like our enjoyment was “embarrassing”. 

Another time was when my mum would take photos in crowded public spaces. I would smile awkwardly and then proceed to tell her to stop. I would then go home that night and wonder why I was so embarrassed. I wasn’t doing anything abnormal, yet I still felt like the whole world’s eyes were fixated on me. 

The harsh truth is that no one cares. No one cares when you accidently trip up the stairs and fail to regain your balance. Sure, there may be a few laughs, but the incident will leave their minds in a few hours at most. No one cares when you have a giant pimple on the tip of your nose because frankly, they have more important things to dwindle on. 

Everyone is too busy wrapped up in their own lives to even care about yours. As devastating as that sounds, take it as an oath of liberation. How freeing to believe that no one truly pays attention to your self- made “flaws”. 

The quote “You Only Live Once” is something I really resonate with. Something I’ve been striving to carry alongside me through life. Because that’s the truth behind a truly content reality, that nothing matters. We all have different timings, different learnings and different paths. And the real tragedy is that most people get lost by trailing off on a path that is not theirs. 

So, the next time you begin to feel even slightly embarrassed or envious, just stop and remind yourself that nothing really matters… Nothing Matters by The Last Dinner Party 

-Maya Bharadwaj is a teenager from Melbourne, Australia; passionate about traveling, writing, reading, music, and ballet. She loves to take the reader into her world with her words.