The Voices.

“I don’t know if I can do this again… it hurts when I try. “

Just do it… once you start it will hurt at first, but you will see the reason.

“Every time I think about it, I just want to curl up in a little ball and cry. “

Well… maybe that’s because you need to get over something.

“Maybe I do, but is it really worth the pain?”

I am sure it is… just one step at a time.

“It sounds so easy, but getting slapped for the truth sucks.”

Nobody ever said it would be easy.

“I don’t need it to be easy, I just don’t want it to be so ugly.”

Just try…

“I’m close, so close… but… who am I doing this for?”

Do you really need someone other than yourself?

“No, but it would be good to know that this isn’t just a selfish endeavor.”

Again, does it really matter?

“What if more people get hurt? What if someone else tells me how wrong I am to think what I do?”

Is that what you are trying to do, to hurt people?

“No, I just want to get it out, to do what feels right.”

Then there’s your answer. Do what feels right. Stop being afraid.

“Stop being afraid… that sounds pretty hard to do.”

One step at a time.

“And then what?”

And then you start to become what you knew you were. Real.

“Like the Velveteen Rabbit.”

Like that damned rabbit who had to learn how to be real so it wasn’t forgotten and lost.

“That’s always the point isn’t it… to not be forgotten.”

Usually. Nobody wants to be forgotten.

“So I should just do it… forget what they said and just be real.”

I believe that was how this started.

“ One step at a time…”

No… one word at a time.

A conversation of a writer struggling to start again between the self and the writer’s voice.

Challenge yourself to start over. Be real.

Dancing with Fireflies