Stop and Breathe

It feels as though I am constantly running,

Racing through obstacles life throws at me

Without the chance to stop - - and breathe.

If it’s not one thing, it’s another

And despite how hard I push or shove –

Life does not stop for me.

People around me keep trucking forward

Just as the Earth continues to spin on its axis,

No break to relax or recuperate.

When I am frozen in fear and have no clue

Where I am going in life or what path I am

Following, I simply stop - - and think.

Where would I be right now if it was not

For all the hardships I’ve persevered through

Or faced diving head first into the storm?

Would life still hold the same meaning

As it does now, if I had collapsed underneath

The pressure from volatile words directed at me?

Who will be prominent in my life,

Someone that I see every single day

And breathes the same air that I do?

What could have been? – I ask myself

As I stare at the mirror without even

Noticing – the saddened girl looking back.

How did things turn out this way,

Surrounded by misconstrued lies

And people who stomp all over me?

Why is it that when you give an inch,

They take a mile and run with it

Giving no moment - - of reprieve?

Questions follow me, no they stalk me

Like shadows entwined to my body

Even in the darkest hours, haunting.

I look around me and still I find it hard

To make sense of anything that is happening

And am constantly confused - - without fail.

I remain frozen, but not with fear,

Rather I remain frozen to take in my surroundings

And learn from other’s mistakes.

So while life continues to pass me by,

Leaving me to my own devices I take a moment

To stop, to think, to learn - - to breathe.

And from that one moment in time

Where I am breathing evenly and my head

Is clear, I think that finally there is hope.

That in this fast-paced life I am living,

That in my moments of doubt and trepidation,

All I need to find hope is stop - - and breathe.