I always wondered about magnets—the way it could be two vastly contradicting things at the same time. First, it was the pull and attraction between two things that causes them to always gravitate to each other. No matter what you did, as long as the magnet has reached a close enough distance to its pair, has infiltrated the other’s magnetic field and breached the invisible boundary, the pull is almost impalpable and instantaneous. The magnet would immediately stick onto its pair, held together by attraction—magnetism.

And then there was the other force—repulsion. In this case, no matter how hard you tried to force the two magnets to stick to each other, it was impossible. There will always be that little gap separating the two, a sort of physical reminder of the repulsive force exchanged between them, of the fact that no matter how hard you tried to push the magnets to stick, it would bounce back the moment you let your guard down just a little.

It’s weird to understand the physical phenomenon behind magnets but to think about it, we are much like magnets. Attraction and repulsion – the dichotomous forces that exist in magnets and that exists in us. There are some people who, no matter how hard we try time and time again, we just simply cannot find that connection. It is possible that, if both of you push yourselves, you can manage to link to each other for a period of time. But the process is tiresome and tedious and you will find that this connection will be quickly swept away when one of you lets up just a little, stops trying just a little.

Then, there are others who, when we meet, we can feel an instantaneous connection, something that draws us in. It’s a force we cannot explain but still, is there. The connection does not mean that you and them are the same. On the contrary, it could mean that you and them are polar opposites, North and Soul poles of a magnet. Yet, it is this opposition that draws us to understand them further, to discover that the gaps and little crevices in our soul are filled perfectly by theirs.

My point is, none of us want to go through life alone. So, we are constantly trying to make connections, sometimes forcefully. But do not be discouraged when connections are difficult to make. The truth is we are much like magnets trying to find our pairs. Some connections, no matter how hard we try, will always be repelled. But there will be others that once we meet, we will be able to make that connection and to hold onto it. The connections we are meant to make will come. We just have to wait. We just have to be open, to allow our magnetic fields to come in contact with as many others. And we just have to be patient.