Turmoil

Footsteps crunched against the dirt. Hands clawed the rocky walls. Eyes searched in desperation for a way out. Silence was the tormentor for the world had fallen away. Solitude was the captor, and nobody would hear the screams breaking against your chest. This was darkness, a place most would not know and a place some would never leave, but if you closed your eyes, silenced your panic, and stood still, you would discover a small light that would lead you back to the world.

Many of us carry stories about our dark times. Our lives would carry us high and then suddenly come crashing down. The world would shatter like glass, sometimes cutting us too deep. We would be surrounded by those holding us up, but we wouldn't be able to feel them or maybe even hear them. We would be alone. We would be in darkness.

Our stories of our dark times are our own. They say that they've been there. They say that they understand. They might have similar stories, but our stories are our life. And we live them, and we must survive them. We need to escape that dark place and find our way back, find a way to keep living.

If we were to stay within darkness too long, we would forget the world. Waves of guilt, anger, sadness, and frustration would wash over us as we slump against the rocky walls of our own prisons. Memories of what brought us there would haunt our minds. We wouldn't look for escape anymore. We would just wait for the end. Leave the dark, and leave the world. But if you pause, close your eyes, and listen to yourself, you'll realize something. There is light within dark.

Why do we go on? When our lives carry us so high before it crashes down, what makes us stand back up? When the world shatters, slicing our hands, what makes us clench our fists to stop the bleeding? When the dark steals away the silver lining in the sky, why do we continue to look up? What is it that gives us the strength to keep on living? Is it faith, hope, or love, or is it the light within us that brings us back from the edge?

We all have that small voice inside us. Most choose to ignore it. Is it normal to talk to ourselves? Is it normal to hear our thoughts and answer them? Why should we speak to ourselves when the world does most of the talking? It's because we know what might come around the corner. We sense the true intentions of the stranger next to us. A hesitation might keep us from a train that derails after leaving the stop. All we have to do is listen to ourselves, understand ourselves because when it comes down to it, you rely on yourself to survive your own dark stories.

Nobody can tell you how to live. Nobody can tell you how to survive. They can only say that they've been there, but what they don't say is how they managed to escape the darkness. With the support from family and friends, they found the strength in them, and with a strong voice inside guiding them back to the world, they took life by its reins. It's your life. It's what defines you and what makes you stronger, so if you were to fall into darkness, your own prison, remember this. You will survive, and you will live life once again.