INSIDE - 20-Minute Prose Exercise

Here’s my 20-minute prose exercise for today. If you’d like to share yours, you can email me here. I’m working on getting a place to share them publicly (anonymously) on here if that’s something you’d like. If not, I’m happy to provide private feedback via email.

I’m here. I’m waiting. I’m inside.

I’m not sure if you can hear me, but I don’t want to worry you too much. Everything is going to be okay. It might take longer than we want it to, and there are likely going to be more trials before we get there, but everything balances out eventually.

Just take some deep breaths. Can you do that for me? Nice and slow now. Breath in… and out. In… and out.

You’re doing great. You really are.

I know things haven’t been stellar lately. I know it might feel a bit like the walls are closing in on you, and to be honest they are. But that doesn’t mean we give up on living. We’ve had tough times before, and unfortunately, we’ll have more tough times ahead. That’s why it’s important for us to take a minute and rest, just like you’re doing right now. It’s okay to be afraid, to feel helpless or overwhelmed. We’ve all been there.

It’s a lot colder on the inside, but the heat will return.

I want you to think about something in your life that brings you joy. If you’re struggling to think, maybe its a pet or a loved one. Maybe its the old man at the gas station that always wears a smile. Is there a tree on your walk that blows just right in the breeze? What about the neighborhood stray that meows when you come home each night? Take a look at the sky. What color is it? Maybe that one waitress with the dumbfounding positivity is on to something. Maybe she feels just as lost as you.

God, I know it’s not getting any better at the moment, but as present and aware as we need to be we also can’t let the outside control the inside right now… even if the damage is already done and the warmth of our youthful hope has chilled.

I’m not saying you need to be beaming from ear to ear here, and I’m not saying do nothing. Definitely don’t do nothing. But, perhaps, maybe, for a moment, we can take a second to breathe. To look around. To breathe. To remember why it’s important to feel those passions. To dream. To fight.

To breathe.

Because if we burn that candle at both ends every single day and we don’t put the flames out for a little while, well… we’ll be out of wax before we know it. And when we run out of wax, the only thing left is ash, the ash of the wick that cradled our spark and saw us through the darkest of times.

Can I just say how proud I am of you? Seriously. It’s easy to take for granted how hard it is to get out of bed every morning, to have the motivation to go to work, to face the horrors, to spin that Sisyphean wheel. But you’re doing it. Day after day. You’re putting food on the table. You’re keeping yourself, your loved ones safe behind locked doors. You’re surviving.

It may not be a glamorous life right now; we might not be thriving like we’d like to be. That’s okay. (It’s not, but it has to be for now). We’re not going to stop dreaming, and breathing and fighting for what is best for all of us.

Because it is cold here on the inside, but guess what? We control the thermostat. Not the outside. We do. That’s why I’m here. I’m here to help you light that spark again, to turn up the heat, and to remind you why you are feeling what you’re feeling. Why you can’t stop now. Why together, on the inside, we can survive and thrive. I’m here. I’m waiting.

I’m inside.