I love being in the mountains.

Especially the high-altitude ones—where you wake up to the sun rolling in across the cliffs and watch it quietly disappear every evening behind the ridges.

One day, it’s blue skies, warmth, and stillness.

Next, it’s foggy, stormy, and wild.

The shift is drastic. You don’t always see it coming.

And yet, the mountain doesn’t resist it. It just is.

I’ve come to see this as a metaphor for life.

Some days are light and hopeful.

Where your body feels open, the air feels clean. You want to explore, create, and connect.

And some days are heavy.

When you question everything.

When even a simple walk feels like too much.

When the same sky that brought you joy yesterday now feels gray and closed.

The goal isn’t to force the sun to shine again.

The goal is to learn how to sit inside each day fully—whether it’s one that warms you or one that slows you down.

Duality is part of being human

Even happiness has a shadow side.

Even sadness can hold medicine.

On the sunniest days, you might start to feel overwhelmed.

Too much light, no shade, no relief. You forgot sunscreen. The hike starts to feel draining instead of energizing.

That excitement turns into pressure if you don’t pause.

On the gloomiest days, when you can’t go anywhere or do much—you finally slow down.

You light a fire. You make tea. You take a bath.

You stop chasing productivity and settle into presence.

That’s the beauty of duality.

No state is permanent.

And each one has a gift, if you choose to receive it.

A framework for emotional awareness

Over time, I’ve created a simple way to check in with myself when I’m feeling off.

You can try it too!

Step 1: Examine the external

What’s happening around you?

• Is the environment light or heavy?
• Are you in a space that supports you or stifles you?
• Are you getting energy from the outside—or is it draining you?

Remember: Even joy can overwhelm. Even comfort can distract you from what you need to feel.

And sometimes the energy isn’t even yours.

You might just be absorbing what’s around you.

Step 2: Acknowledge the internal

What are you feeling, really?

• Are these emotions connected to your own thoughts, patterns, or memories?
• Are you sad in a beautiful place?
• Are you hopeful in a hard one?

I remember being in the Gili Islands—literally paradise—and feeling a wave of sadness I couldn’t shake.

It had nothing to do with the scenery.

The clouds weren’t outside. They were in me.

At the same time, I remember being in Silicon Valley during one of the hardest phases of my life—working on my startup, burnt out, broke, unsure of everything—and still finding hope.

Still pushing forward. Still feeling something bright inside of me.

The inner and outer don’t always match.

That’s why both need your attention.

Step 3: Come back to neutrality

Don’t chase the high.

Don’t resist the low.

Ask yourself:

What would it feel like to be okay right here, without needing to change anything?

That’s not numbness.

That’s presence.

That’s what allows you to feel without getting lost in the feeling.

Learn to separate what’s yours from what isn’t

There’s a lot happening in the world.

A lot of noise.

A lot of chaos.

And if you’re sensitive, intuitive, or emotionally open—you’re likely picking up things that aren’t even yours.

The collective fear. The media spin. The pressure to do more, be more, stay online, stay informed.

Sometimes your sadness is a signal.

Sometimes it’s an echo.

It’s okay to not always know which it is.

But you have the right to say: “I’m not holding this today.”

You don’t need to carry everything.

❌ Disconnect if you need to.

❌ Turn off the news.

❌ Stop scrolling.

❌ Come back to your body.

❌ Sit in silence.

Be with yourself, without doing anything impressive.

That alone is a form of connection.

Final reflections

When life feels like it’s shifting rapidly—internally or externally—I ask myself:

• What is this moment asking of me?
• Am I reacting to the world, or responding to myself?
• Can I hold both the sun and the storm as part of my experience?

You don’t have to be happy all the time.

You don’t have to find meaning in every discomfort.

But you can learn to witness it.

To walk through it with a little more awareness.

To let your emotions be messengers—not enemies.

🔆 You are allowed to feel everything.

🔆 You are allowed to take space.

🔆 You are allowed to be soft, quiet, angry, tired, excited, confused, hopeful, and still.

All of it belongs.

Just like the mountain welcomes every storm and every sunrise.

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