would you ever purposefully pick out a clearly unripe blueberry to eat? no right? you would pick out a blueberry that looks big and juicy, that would make all your senses perk up and make your heart full. but sometimes even the ones that you think are ripe aren’t actually and you realize that after you’ve already bit into half of it. but would you still eat the rest of it, knowing it will create a level of discomfort and sourness in your mouth? no, right?
this is not about blueberries.
i’m talking about people. would you want to be friends with or associate yourself with someone you know isn’t treating you right or treating others right? would you want to put up with that behavior and continue to churn on the inside from the discomfort of how it makes you feel? even if that person looks to be someone you want to be friends with, after feeling a certain way about them, would you still put in the same amount of effort?
if it’s a relationship you value, it is absolutely your duty to tell the person how what they are doing is making you feel. or if you think you did something, you reach out and check in. but if at that point they are still not acknowledging that they’re an unripe blueberry, there is nothing else in your power that you can do to fix it.
in my favorite speech ever (Steve Jobs at Stanford), he says (and i am paraphrasing) that you have to believe in something, whether it be fate, god, karma, or whatever that will help you trust that the dots will connect in the future. maybe that’s not what you want to hear, and i know it truly does suck when you just want a blueberry to be perfect, but everything truly does happen for a reason. if it’s meant to be, it’ll be. there’s no need to force it.
if people were blueberries, this world is your blueberry farm.
don’t eat the rest of the blueberry if the first bite was not ripe — well, you can, but don’t be surprised when the same sour flavor comes back.
don’t judge blueberries based on how they look — what you see isn’t always the truth.
and most definitely don’t share your blueberries with everyone. keep the ones that you know are delightful and that you love close to your heart. hold them tight and pray they last forever. and if they don’t, then that’s okay too. hope that the next blueberry will be even riper.
but please, trust in something that the dots will connect in the future and that everything happening right now will eventually make sense.
take a moment to yourself this weekend and think about the ripe blueberries in your life. be grateful for them, and tell them how much they mean to you. remember, a blueberry can be ripe one day, but not the next. but if you take care of it for as long as you can and preserve its goodness, it can stay ripe for longer.
and then acknowledge that there may be some blueberries on the blueberry farm that you no longer enjoy the taste of. being aware is the first step. however you want to proceed after coming to terms with this is your decision, but remember:
if you are a blueberry pie, then the blueberries that make you up are the people that you surround yourself with. so even if most are ripe, the few sour ones can throw the taste off. don’t let a couple of unripe blueberries take away your goodness.
you’re too beautiful… and life is too short. trust that it will work out. and if you don’t trust in anything, please just trust in me.
until next time, and so much love,
apuroopa
p.s. some parts of the blueberry farm (people) can have bad seasons (days). that doesn’t mean they are always unripe. if the taste (behavior) is constant, consistent, and still making you feel a certain way, that’s when you should reevaluate.