Addiction is constant pleasure and numbing, with an undercurrent of self-hatred.
Sobriety is constant pain and hardship, with an undercurrent of peace and growing self-love.
Addiction looks like a shiny suspension bridge
over the chasm of your loneliness and despair,
but it’s a lie–there is no suspension bridge, no easy road, no pain-free life.
There are only two choices:
move forward by descending into the chasm,
or stand still and procrastinate.
The more you choose the latter to avoid the sharp pain,
the more you’ll pay for it with the dull pain of letting yourself down.
We must choose
between the head-splitting agony of presence
and the slow, rotting feeling of escape.
Addiction is constant pleasure and numbing, with an undercurrent of self-hatred.
Sobriety is constant pain and hardship, with an undercurrent of peace and growing self-love.
And I’m beginning to learn
that despite their subtlety,
the undercurrents matter most.
Month: October 2022
New Priorities
No longer is my main goal in life
to be happy.
It’s to be fulfilled
and resilient.
Coffee Shop Thoughts
Suicidal depression is a strange thing.
You go about your day,
make small talk with the barista at the coffee shop
and look normal, perhaps
and no one knows how intimately you know Death
how you commune with Her on a weekly basis
how frequently you must negotiate with Her,
trying to convince Her to give you more time
So strange how I can somehow blend into casual spaces
while fighting a vicious battle for my life.
*If you are in the US, feel this way, and need someone to talk to, call 988 for the national suicide hotline. You are not alone.
Not Your Secret
I will not accept
half of your heart
in a shady alleyway.
To be my lover,
you must give me your whole heart
on a sunlit street.
(2021)
Dangerous
The more I learn to love myself,
the more dangerous I feel.
But dangerous in a good way.
Dangerous to systems of oppression,
dangerous to bullshit.
A wrecking ball that’s coming for the things
that need to be destroyed
“I believe that the more we love ourselves, the more potent we are”-India Arie
Bouncy Ball
Sometimes, you have to fall to the ground
to realize you’re not breakable glass
but a bouncy ball
*Inspired by Parker Palmer’s Let Your Life Speak*