I think I will never be able to explain how the world, in all of its
beauty and horror, constantly leaves me paralyzed in the doorway waiting
to see what comes next. I will never be able to articulate my pain in
knowing that everything I have and everything I will never have exist
simultaneously, out there, regardless of my thoughts or fears. That
truly is the absolute most terrifying part of growing up, realizing that
not only does the world not revolve around you, but that it revolves in
spite of you. And that from the moment you gain internal consciousness,
you will spend your life trying to repay a debt you can never seem to
pinpoint long enough to understand. The debt we owe to the universe, to
the stars and the oceans and the trees and the stones. To our mothers,
our mothers’ mothers, our most ancient ancestors. Because every single
one of us came from somewhere we can’t fully grasp and that leaves me in
a constant state of awe.
As a child I took most of my understanding of the world from books,
and in growing up I slowly shed my expectations of what the world would
be like. I learned to accept it for what it is. Because I realized that
there would be no romantic declaration of love outside my window, no
perfect stranger to let me know I’m doing the right thing, no moment of
clarity, no final realization at the end. There would be no dragon
slaying, no guarantee that things will work out, no promise that I would
find the one, and definitely no happily ever after. I would not be
rescued by a strong man on horseback, or by anyone at all. It would and
will always just be me. And sometimes people will love me and sometimes I
will love people and sometimes I will get lost or fuck up and people
will help me or they won’t. There will be happy moments and sad moments,
as there have always been. Moments I forget about and moments I will
never forget. There will be unbelievable moments, but I will believe
them.
And these thoughts are good, they leave me sane and whole the majority of the time.
But the thing is, sometimes you just have to say fuck it.
I will believe anything and everything I choose to, even the things I
have reasoned away. The things I’ve said don’t exist, the acceptance of
the world as it is, they can’t beat belief in the impossible. It’s a
bigger inspiration than anything else I’ve ever experienced. I want to
fall in love and I want to slay dragons and I know that some days I will
deny this in my cynicism and other days I will forget all about it.
But that’s okay.
Because the terrifying thing is, none of us know much of anything.
I can’t think of anything more perfect than that.
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