From the Peak, It's Always Better!

A fortnight ago, I was standing in a queue at an airport, wedged between a flock of furious people both ahead of me and behind, all of us waiting to retrieve luggage that had been checked in before our flight was cancelled. I kept tapping my pocket for my phone, a habit now ingrained, only to realise again and again that it had been stolen on my way to the airport. Each time the realisation struck, I felt momentarily astounded, pinching myself as if this were a nightmare I might wake up from, while another part of me, quieter and more desperate, tried to convince me that this couldn’t possibly be real.

The universe had given me more than enough reasons to place that entire day among the experiences I never want to relive. Later that night, I collected my luggage, didn’t even attempt to reschedule my flight, and used the cash in my pocket to take a cab back home. Sleep never came; I kept turning in bed, troubled and restless. The despair of losing one of my most cherished devices, compounded by the prospect of planning the trip all over again, unsure whether it would end in yet another last-minute cancellation, left me numb and unable to think of much else.

Over the years, my brain has wired itself to find humour in the most dire situations. So while the tossing and turning continued that night, my thoughts drifted to the motivational quotes we so often come across. When Helen Keller said, “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.” When Marcus Aurelius urged a refusal to let negativity dominate the inner mind with, “You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” I laughed a little... (trust me, it’s borderline creepy when you laugh at a thought at half past three in the morning, but well… whatever helps 🤷) thinking about how utterly hollow these words can sound when you’ve just lived through one of the worst days imaginable.

A week after that chaotic day, during a short break from work, I stumbled upon the concept of “negativity bias.” Simply put, negativity bias is a psychological tendency where negative experiences, thoughts, or emotions influence a person’s mental state and behaviour more strongly than positive or neutral ones of equal intensity. In other words, negative events tend to leave a deeper and more lasting imprint on how we think, feel, and act than equally intense positive experiences. The concept struck a chord almost instantly, as I realised this was exactly what I had been doing all week... replaying the sequence of incidents over and over, exhausting myself to the very core of my mind.

Positivity often presents itself as a mere sliver. I believe that even though life is unfair, what it offers us at every fork in the road is choice. It is always one’s decision to either be left gasping for breath, inhaling the negative toxins that surround us, or to give “moving on” a chance, even though it feels like a journey weighed down by heavy luggage, climbing a steep incline. It doesn’t take much scrutiny, at least in my case, to see that the latter is clearly the better option. If a heavy chest is unavoidable, it might as well come with a decent view waiting somewhere at the top, once the lifting is done.

Seeking a hideout from the daily chaos and the chain of negative thoughts I had built for myself, I found an opportunity to break free and take on a literal steep climb, complete with a fair amount of heavy lifting. One of my closest friends invited me to join her on a trek with a group of strangers. She had some prior experience, but for me, it felt like stepping well beyond the boundaries of my comfort zone, especially since I usually travel with a very tight-knit group of people. Not going to lie, I was a little anxious. I felt small jitters thinking about how these new interactions might unfold. And with the negative experiences December had already handed me, I spent most of the journey to the guest house quietly bracing myself for the worst-case scenario.

I’m not sure if this happens only to me, but there comes a point when my mind feels so overwhelmed by emotions, some of them bordering on scary, that it simply shuts overthinking down and starts taking things one moment at a time. (It’s probably for the best... I can’t thank my cerebral architecture enough for stepping in when it does 🙃) When we reached the guest house, I could sense the familiar awkwardness that usually hangs over a group of people meeting for the first time. Still, as I focused on taking each moment as it came, I made a conscious effort to initiate conversations, searching for a sense of familiarity. Perhaps others resonated with what I had been feeling earlier that day and chose to meet me halfway. From small conversations over shared meals to sitting around a campfire, things kept getting better, and before I realised it, I was inhaling fresh air again.

All of this was already more than I could have asked for, honestly, given how freeing it made me feel. But the experience was elevated several notches when I found people who were more than happy to indulge in conversations about art with me, punctuated by short breaks where we gazed at the stars, trying and failing miserably to capture them on our devices. The discussions flowed willingly and effortlessly around culture, music, stories, and the psychological labour that goes on behind the scenes, which, by the way, happens to be one of my favourite genres of conversation 😁.

A special shoutout to my best friend who invited me to be a part of this journey and patiently bore my endless chatter, the woman who hits the most impossible-sounding notes with an ease that makes it obvious how deeply she enjoys singing, and the man who believes he isn’t talented enough to sit among a group of artists, yet carries an innate curiosity and a rare ability to give people space while still making his presence quietly felt.

When I think about it now, all I can say is that my gratitude goes beyond words for the people who make me feel at home, even when I am so far away… practically in a no-network zone.

Yes, this December has been harsh on me. Yes, I have been stupid enough to get my phone stolen. (Really, I should have been more careful 😥) Yes, I have faced inconveniences that felt deeply exhausting. Yes, I could complain about the kind of ending the year handed me.

BUT (and it’s a big BUTT… had to say it 😭), I’m glad I managed to identify the slivers of positivity, which, in my case, turned out to be interactions with some of the most amazing people I could have stumbled upon. Lately, life has thrown a few harsh lessons my way, and me being me, I’ve learned them the hard way. The most important of them all has been choosing the steep path, heavy lifting and all, in pursuit of a positivity peak, instead of surrendering to the overwhelming emotions that occasionally try to settle into permanence. Ironically, my guiding milestones showed up as conversations with a bunch of strangers.

All the panting and gasping that this hell of a journey demanded feels worth it now, because from whatever little life has shown me so far, I can say this with some certainty. When you step out of monotony, dance a little beyond your comfort zone, and make it to the top, where all you inhale is calm and quiet, things begin to look much clearer.

Trust me… From the Peak, It's Always Better!

If you’ve made it this far into this little letter of mine, thank you, and I wish you a very happy New Year! Take one more step and tell me what you thought of this article. Whether it’s a single line or a long message… I’d love to know. So yes, your response matters deeply to me.

Find me on Instagram at @ankeshkprasad or drop me an email at [email protected]. I try to read and respond to every message because your words matter to me more than you know.

If you haven’t already, please do check out my debut psychological thriller fiction novel, They Would Die For You!
Available now in both Paperback and Kindle editions.