Inner Strength

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?