Expecto Patronum!

Do you know what Dementors do aside from guarding the prisons of Azkaban? They suck light and happiness out of you. They feed on every good feeling or every happy memory until you are left with nothing but despair.

Just like everyone in the wizarding world, muggles also have dementors of their own. They come in the form of the true horrors of our past to minute daily life inconveniences such as the horrible meat and bread ratio in a sandwich you just bought.


Well, life was never meant to run on an even and straight path. It's not a bed of roses. And it isn't always going to be rainbows and butterflies (and whatever cliches you can think of). Every now and then, we experience trials, torment, tribulation, or trepidation - which is really my overstated way of saying, life sucks. Shit happens. These inconveniences, no matter how big or small they are, can completely unhinge you and ruin your mood, your day, and your attitude towards others.

Somehow, a lot of us find ourselves in that slump and choose to stop seeing the brighter side of things. I am guilty of that at some point. But what suddenly dawned on me while watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (for the nth time) earlier is that the power of positivity is overwhelming but is often underestimated. All these negativity can actually be warded off. The same way dementors can be repelled with a Patronus Charm.

You see, the Patronus Charm is a projection of all your most positive feelings. It requires more than just saying the spell, Expecto patronum! It can only be conjured when you think of a powerful happy memory. So what I'm really trying to say is, when you are becoming a living proof of Murphy's law (anything that can go wrong, will go wrong), the first step to conjure the charm, just like how Harry Potter did it for the first time, is to think of anything that makes you happy.

Bacon, for example.

Yeah, I may have made life sound so magical, but I regret to inform you there will be no unicorns, incantations, wand-waving, or pixie dusts here. The only magical thing about this is that the seemingly insignificant things have the greatest powers to completely turn that frown upside down on an otherwise bad day. I am a believer of little things. I believe in counting your blessings no matter how small it is.

Recognizing those life's tiny miracles isn't really that hard. It's in the kindness of people you've never met before. It's the stranger that opened the door for you. It's the joke you overheard somewhere that made you laugh. It's your dog that's so happy to see you when you get home from work. It's the food on your plate. It's the clothes you wear. Or the shelter in the rain. It's your friends and family that never left your side. It's the air you breathe. It's being alive. It's simply just being thankful for all those things that often go unnoticed. And when you fill your heart with gratitude, there will be no room for discontentment. There will be no room for dementors.

My life isn't exactly how I expected it to be. I have my own struggles and horrors you never thought I've been through. But I also have wonderful friends, a smart kid, an amazing boyfriend, supportive family, a sound mind, and a healthy body.

As cliche as it may sound, whatever it is that you experience, however big or small or nasty it is, things do get better eventually. There will always be a reason to be thankful. So choose to be thankful. Keep calm and just Expecto patronum!