Close Menu
Honi Soit
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • Skank Sinatra Review: Electric, hilarious, and open-hearted
    • Spacey Jane’s  ‘If That Makes Sense’ and Keeping Australian Music Alive
    • Trump administration issues executive order closing CIA black sites, convinced they are “woke” /Satire
    • “Lawfare”: Jewish staff and students rally behind USyd academics now facing federal legal action
    • Interview with Plestia Alaqad on ‘The Eyes of Gaza’
    • Whose Review Is It Anyway?: NUTS’ WPIIA 2025
    •  “Like diaspora, pollen needs to be scattered to different places to survive and grow”: Dual Opening of ‘Germinate/Propagate/Bloom’, and ‘Last Call’ at 4A Centre of Contemporary Asian Art
    • Akinola Davies Jr. on ‘My Father’s Shadow’, Namesakes, and Nostalgia
    • About
    • Print Edition
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    • Writing Comp
    • Advertise
    • Locations
    • Contact
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok
    Honi SoitHoni Soit
    Monday, June 23
    • News
    • Analysis
    • Culture
    • Opinion
    • University
    • Features
    • Perspective
    • Investigation
    • Reviews
    • Comedy
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    Honi Soit
    Home»Creative

    You Are Not Lifeless

    The importance of self-love and care
    By Karishma LuthriaMarch 22, 2019 Creative 2 Mins Read
    Art by Nell O'Grady.
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    You are not lifeless.

    You are as alive as the trees rustling in the warm autumn wind. You are as alive as warm water flowing on soft black pebbles.

    Blood coursing through your veins, an orange-ish hue of your past floats across your mind.

    You continue to ponder why you are not worth anything.

    “Why am I like this?” you ask yourself in the mirror as you feel the circles around your eyes in concentric motions.

    “Why are they so dense? Why am I so unhappy?”

    In the suburbs of New York, you lie on your couch,

    lucidly thinking about the changes you need to make in your static life.

    I speak to you, and ask sister, “what do you want from life?”

    I hear nothing back, but the indifferent hum of the phone line.

    I ask you again,

    and you say coldly: “nothing.”

    For years as a child I idolised you for being the person you are: unabashed about your individuality, happy and hilarious, but now even the phone line feels heavy, ten thousand miles away.

    Your strength and ruthlessness made me proud to be your little sister.

    But somehow, New York changed you.

    A dystopian life of dreams unmet, because of mental unrest.

    “She looks better than me”

    “I can’t believe they are at Fashion Week and not me”

    “He doesn’t want me for the long term, but I’ll still be around him”

    And there goes another cycle of self deterioration, as does the skin on your toes.

    I see you on video, and you stare at me blankly,

    the only time your face lights up is when you look at new life fondly.

    Perhaps, that’s all you’re looking for: a new start and someone to believe in and love you.

    Hold you when you need it most, and I hope you get it after realizing the importance of loving yourself first.

    Because

    If only you could see yourself from my eyes,

    you’d know you’re worth all this and more.

     

    anxiety new york poetry self care

    Keep Reading

    Do you dream with your phone?

    Your Therapist Is Not Your Messiah

    I Have Read Little, and Understood Less

    A Small Inventory

    Bird Vignettes

    hung parliament (we never asked to be so star-crossed)

    Just In

    Skank Sinatra Review: Electric, hilarious, and open-hearted

    June 20, 2025

    Spacey Jane’s  ‘If That Makes Sense’ and Keeping Australian Music Alive

    June 20, 2025

    Trump administration issues executive order closing CIA black sites, convinced they are “woke” /Satire

    June 19, 2025

    “Lawfare”: Jewish staff and students rally behind USyd academics now facing federal legal action

    June 19, 2025
    Editor's Picks

    Part One: The Tale of the Corporate University

    May 28, 2025

    “Thank you Conspiracy!” says Capitalism, as it survives another day

    May 21, 2025

    A meditation on God and the impossible pursuit of answers

    May 14, 2025

    We Will Be Remembered As More Than Administrative Errors

    May 7, 2025
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok

    From the mines

    • News
    • Analysis
    • Higher Education
    • Culture
    • Features
    • Investigation
    • Comedy
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Misc

     

    • Opinion
    • Perspective
    • Profiles
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Social
    • Sport
    • SRC Reports
    • Tech

    Admin

    • About
    • Editors
    • Send an Anonymous Tip
    • Write/Produce/Create For Us
    • Print Edition
    • Locations
    • Archive
    • Advertise in Honi Soit
    • Contact Us

    We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The University of Sydney – where we write, publish and distribute Honi Soit – is on the sovereign land of these people. As students and journalists, we recognise our complicity in the ongoing colonisation of Indigenous land. In recognition of our privilege, we vow to not only include, but to prioritise and centre the experiences of Indigenous people, and to be reflective when we fail to be a counterpoint to the racism that plagues the mainstream media.

    © 2025 Honi Soit
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Accessibility

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.