Bittersweet

Jumbo shrimp, silent scream, civil war. In 500 words or less, share an oxymoron and how it resonates with you.

Bittersweet. 

The intersection of beautiful and terrible. Tragic and triumphant. Joyful and distraught. Bittersweet is defined as being a mixture of both pleasure and pain. Two emotions that seem to represent polar opposite experiences, coexisting. So often, we compartmentalize moments as being strictly good or bad - two extremes, never merging. But I have based my life on this: life’s greatest moments are not so black and white. They’re usually an unrecognizable flurry of feelings. A pool of emotions. I cherish my life here, in these bittersweet moments. I embrace this clash of both pleasure and pain. Part of the beauty of being human is our ability to feel a wide range of emotions, sometimes all at once. These are the moments where we are reminded that we are here. We are alive. 

When I close my eyes and think of bittersweet, this is what I see:

I just finished a series that I’ve devoted the past few weeks of my life to. I have come to know the characters better than they probably know themselves. Their story coming to an end may be satisfying to see, yet it is always heartbreaking letting go of a truly great story.

My arms and legs can barely move, and it hurts to walk. But last night, I was on top of the world in a yoga pose I’d never hit before. This is where progress and pain collide. 

My mom and sister are standing in my dorm room. Hours earlier this space held nothing but furniture and ghosts’ of occupants past. Now it holds my things, the material representation of my life. Except now, they are organized in a way that represents my new life. My life away from them. Away from home. In my new, different home. My heart swells with excitement and sorrow. The feeling of one chapter ending and another one beginning. 

Bittersweet moments are special to me because they represent the complexity of what it means to be human. So rarely are the moments we experience ever made up of purely one emotion over another. Part of the beauty of the human experience is the ability to feel such a contrasting array of emotions. In the midst of confusion, agony, and heartache, there is bliss, comfort, and clarity to be found.