The Good Place

Because somehow, it healed and hurt me

I watched The Good Place in about 3 days, and somehow that’s all it took to wake me up from the hazy dream I’ve been in for a while

This isn’t a review, but it’s me trying to take you through the journey with me

The Good Place made me confront how I view the world in Puzzles and Answers.

I’m always trying to find answers like my life is an escape room with riddles I can solve to come out of the other side,

But there’s a character in the show called Chidi, and he felt like my inner monologue personified;

The constant thinking and questioning; being so focused on trying to find a perfect answer that you don’t even notice the moment is gone, and that you’ll never even get the choice you were looking for.

I’m always seeking some nonexistent perfect answer or solution; I forget what’s happening around me while trying to know what it means;

I get mad at studying law, because it feels like there should be some way to beat the system and succeed. I never know if I’m better, if I’m growing, if I’m just dwelling in mediocrity.

I’m constantly trying to decide what to do and how to do it the best way, and I hardly ever decide. I just let someone else do it for me.

But my life isn’t a puzzle. It’s complex, and trying to arrange it often makes it harder.

I can’t know what’s going to happen,

I can only know that I’m going to wake up every day, and try to live it out as it happens.

The Good Place felt like a reminder to take a deep breath; a hand on your shoulder reminding you to live and not just think your way through

It helped me see that trying is just as beautiful as anything.

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The Good Place made me think about Love, not that it’s hard, everything does— I’m always thinking about love.

I try to convince myself that it’s because God is love, which He is,

But I also genuinely just yearn for the connection I hope it will mean when I find it.

The Good Place reminded me that the person in love always wins.

No matter how it goes, because those feelings are theirs to hold;

The giddiness, the depth, the joy; those feelings come from you, and they’re with you even if the person isn’t,

Because love is going through the motions of growth.

It’s being beside this person and finding a way to be better, and somehow in the middle of it, you don’t really want their love like a reward, you want it like something to share, and you want it if it’s where they’re happiest too,

You just find that no matter what follows, the moments you shared remain yours, and pain doesn’t take them from you,

You’re not with the person by accident, you’re with them because you choose them.

“If there were an answer I could give you to how the universe works, it wouldn’t be special. It would just be machinery fulfilling its cosmic design. It would just be a big, dumb food processor. But since nothing seems to make sense, when you find something or someone that does, it’s euphoria”

I might be hard on myself when it comes to love, but it’s because I want the euphoria of being where I should be.

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The Good Place showed me Friendship, and how lucky you are when you find it.

Friendship doesn’t always make sense,

Sometimes it’s choosing them over solitude, sometimes it’s choosing solitude over them,

But I believe friendship is the purest kind of love there is.

Friendship may be convenient or the complete opposite, but it’s always there;

When you’re being silly, when you’re making good choices, when you’re in your head,

It’s always present; the sunset that makes the whole day feel like a playlist that’s coming to an end.

It’s a little ironic, but to me, The Good Place was literally the friends they made along the way, and that’s special to me.

Friendship is the kind of love that somehow manages to survive the taint of expectations once you’re doing it with the right person.

It has no age or no fixed time; it just comes into your life and stays with you— helping you and holding you.

Friendships might not have eternity, but they’re the memories you make, the memories that help to form the mosaics all of us are.

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The Good Place made me think about Good and Bad,

By the standards of the show, I still don’t think I’d describe myself as good,

Because I give up very often, I stop trying and I retreat into a mind that bullies me more than it comforts me,

But it also raises a very good point;

How can we blame people for struggling when they don’t have the support systems they need?

How can we selfishly decide who gets a chance and who doesn’t, when we’re not in their heads, and definitely didnt live their lives?

I’m of the opinion that people are defined by their actions (and sometimes inactions) but those actions are determined by the things they’ve had to go through, but I also can’t forget motivations.

There are many fictional characters that I can’t stand because they ignore the opportunity to grow multiple times, or they’re praised for doing something helpful out selfish motivation,

But life is complicated, it’s not black and white; it’s not even polka dots; it’s a lot of grays,

And so are humans; we can’t decide who’s good or who’s trying to be on our own, but we can decide to give the benefit of the doubt.

The Good Place has made a home in my heart because it reminded me of the beauty of the good moments.

Sometimes when I’m thinking, and peaceful, I’m not mad at sadness or pain, because it ends, and I know everything that follows will be better, and The Good Place reminds me of that, but makes it more firm,

Because pain doesn’t just go away,

It has to be confronted, and confronting something means you have to sit in front of it and accept that it’s there,

I might be sad, but sadness teaches you, sadness ends, and most of all, it helps you appreciate the moments of completeness with the people and things you love.

Author’s note

I probably would’ve never written this if tamtam.💕 hadn’t recommended it to me a while back, so everyone say thank you to her!💕