Once upon a time, there was a man who had lost everything. He had no family left and barely any friends. In a year’s time, he had lost the love of his life to another man. His misery thereafter resulted in him being fired from his job.
Living on public welfare, he felt like a failure. On top of it all, he felt his shortcomings growing larger and larger.
His morale was low. Wherever he went, his presence drained the life and energy out of rooms and crowds. His troubles consumed him, his mind was always in a worried state.
One night, as he was contemplating giving up on life, a young boy arrived at his doorstep. The young boy introduced himself as The Moon.
The hopeless man thought life was throwing another cruel joke at him. But fortunately for him, this was not the case.
The boy who called himself The Moon took the man’s hand and told him they were going to his home up in the sky.
Amazed, the man flew while holding hands with the boy Moon. Looking down to the Earth, his house started getting smaller and smaller. The man kept looking down, his heart growing less heavy with the increasing height. When he looked down, his house was unrecognizable, a blur in a darker pool which was his town. Soon that too became a blur until it was removed entirely from sight by the clouds.
As the clouds’ mist touched his cheeks, he felt lighter.
He looked at the boy Moon, who was looking up towards his home. The man looked down to his planet, thinking about his troubles. What would people think of this? For the first time in his life, he did not care as much as he would normally have. It was a liberating feeling.
After what felt like days, the boy Moon warned him that they were about to arrive.
Suddenly, the man felt drawn to a shiny silver planet. With a pop, they were softly pulled to the surface.
The boy Moon invited the man to take a seat and take in the view.
“What do you see?” The boy Moon asked.
“A tiny spec that I know as the Earth, as my home.”
“How do you usually see yourself on Earth?”
“To be frank: as useless and as a failure.” The man’s shoulders dropped.
“How do you feel now you’re here?”
As his shoulder lifted, he said: “Light and calm.”
“So what does this teach you about your existence on earth?” The boy Moon asked, amused.
“I don’t know.” The man said with hesitation.
“Let me tell you what I see when I see your kind from here. Your kind worry and fear too much, about uncertainties, prestige or other vanities. But one needn’t worry about those trivialities. If something doesn’t go your way, think of how big that problem is, seen from this very spot.
People can’t even be seen from here. When you are on your planet, I can’t see you either. In this universe, all elements are but tiny dots composed of atoms. Besides, all these elements are temporary. Some last longer than others, yes, but all will cease to exist. Whenever you are faced with an obstacle in your life, think of what you would see from here. From a distance, your troubles become smaller and smaller.”
The man felt the words of the boy Moon wash over him like a nice warm bath, a bath so fresh with insight that for the first time in his life he did not pity himself. For why pity yourself when life’s purpose is to seek, to challenge and to evolve? There is nothing scary about that, and if you look around, everyone is doing the exact same thing. Growing, evolving, falling down, standing up and rising to new heights. He felt a new determination running through his veins. He needed to help people to see and feel what he had just felt.
The boy Moon smiled at him and gathered that the man was changing in front of his eyes.
“Let it all go. Let yourself go. Whatever you’re experiencing, always think: this too shall pass,” the boy Moon said. “There is only one certainty: I will always be here in the universe fulfilling my duty around your world at night. Tomorrow I will be there, and the day after that, and after that…
You seem to know what you must do. Live, I beg you and fulfill your role in the grand scheme of things. Find chaos and adventure. Overcome adversity with resilience. Help out and use your time well.”
Just as he accepted what the boy Moon was asking of him, he closed his eyes. A strange force pulled his body from the moon back to earth. It happened so fast, he only blinked twice. Just as he thought he was going to be catapulted into the ground and end up in human pieces, he was softly stopped and put on the ground, feeling light as a feather.
This story is part of a longer story called The Regret Rooms.
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Originally published at medium.com