Seven Times Down, Eight Times Up

I often ask people

What drives you

To go through hell

Be utterly decimated

And rise up from your ashes

Roaring loud enough to shatter

Past limits

Found among most of us.

They say

Discipline, practice and hard work

Have no replacements. I smirk at

The motivational bullshit these

“successful” and “rich” people

Feed us.

But nobody can make you

Quit smoking, drinking or

Masturbating to porn

Snorting or injecting drugs

Eating fast food

Binge-watching TV shows

Spending time on your smartphones

‘cause there’s no roadmap to follow.

You’re just presumed to wake up one day

After probably the worst experience of your life

Be grateful to God that you survived

Say you’ll quit being a domestically violent

Misogynist

That you’ll visit your children regularly

Make sure they don’t turn out to be like you

Stop abusing them

Abstain from all ‘bad habits’

Make your bed every morning

Eat only healthy vegan shit

Be woke

Exercise like a fitness freak

Turn around your business like a novel Warren Buffet

Or Elon Musk.

Then it's supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows

Let no cloud of despair darken your mesmerizing zest of

Happiness

That the world will forgive your sins and forget

You’ll become a saint

Give TEDx talks

People’ll treat you as a life coach.

Maybe, for some folks that worked

But it never did for me and so many others

‘cause you see the more you make your brain chase after something

You’re only highlighting the absence of it in your life.

I’ve learnt things come your way

Only when you stop trying

Stop praying

Stop living like another zombie

Stop blaming others for ruining your life

That magic happens when you own shit up

And look deep into those eyes in the mirror

Every morning

When you can sit in the dark

Month after month

Until your eyes adjust

Until your brain has counted every second of each minute of each hour of each day.

Then run like the wind

If you stumble run harder

If your legs get bruised

Keep going cause the moment you stop

You’re gonna let the pain get to your mind

Remind yourself why you’re living

To see whether life gets better or worse

Like a dare scenario.

Who knows

In the end

We’re all gonna die

Maybe you’ll die smiling

‘cause you went the distance

Unlike the rest.