05/29/2026
The Mindscape : Entry 008 (05/29/26 ) ✍️ 8:51 AM
“You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” — Marcus Aurelius
Lately, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the noise around me.
Everywhere I look, there is another argument, another debate, another division in the Zomi community. Some people are fighting over politics connected to Burma. Some are consumed by war updates, anger, or fear. Others are endlessly debating names, identity, organizations, or who represents who. Even here in the US, where many of us came searching for peace and a better future, it sometimes feels like we carried the conflict with us.
And honestly, it makes me sad.
Not because people care deeply about our people — that part I understand. But because so much energy is spent arguing, criticizing, and reacting, while very little energy is spent building, healing, creating, or inspiring change. Everyone has strong opinions, but sometimes it feels like nobody truly wants to listen anymore. The noise keeps growing, but the community itself does not seem to grow with it.
What makes it harder is knowing that some people are not even speaking because they truly care. Sometimes it feels like people are chasing attention, views, likes, or validation more than they are chasing solutions. Pain and conflict become content. Anger becomes entertainment. And the louder the drama gets, the more people seem to feed it. Watching that happen makes me tired emotionally because real suffering should never become something people use just to gain attention online.
There are moments where I catch myself becoming frustrated too. I read comments, posts, and debates that drain my mind. Sometimes I wonder why our people struggle so much to move forward together. Why peace feels so difficult even among people who share the same pain and history.
But recently, I’ve been realizing something important.
I cannot control the chaos around me. I cannot stop people from arguing. I cannot fix generations of hurt, pride, politics, or division by myself. The only thing I truly have control over is my own reaction.
That realization has been quietly freeing.
Instead of feeding the noise, I want to protect my peace. Instead of becoming another angry voice online, I want to focus on creating something meaningful in real life. Through photography, art, kindness, conversations, and the way I treat people around me. Maybe real influence does not always come from winning arguments. Maybe it comes from becoming the kind of person who brings calm into loud spaces.
I still care deeply about my people and my homeland. I always will. But I’m learning that carrying every argument in my heart only makes me lose myself.
And I don’t want to lose myself to noise anymore.
For the younger generation, the artists, the creatives, and the dreamers in our community — I hope we become known for more than our divisions. I hope we learn how to create instead of only criticize. To build instead of only debate. To inspire instead of only react. Our people have already survived so much pain and displacement. The future should not only inherit our anger, but also our wisdom, creativity, compassion, and courage to imagine something better.
Maybe healing for our community will not begin through another argument online. Maybe it will begin quietly — through artists telling honest stories, through people choosing understanding over pride, and through a generation that decides peace is more valuable than attention.
And I still believe that generation can be us.
