OPTIONS

Darkness surrounded her. She couldn’t breathe. Gasping, she tried to lift herself, to no avail. What was happening to her? Where was she, and what was weighing down her chest, cutting off her breath?

It seemed hours passed before she began to breathe more evenly. The darkness had not relinquished its hold on her surroundings, thus she still knew not where she was. There were no sounds for some time. Then, it began. Whispering. Or was it a slight breeze somewhere close by? Were there trees overhead, or bushes nearby? Why wasn’t she in her bedroom, in her soft, warm comfortable bed? Beneath her was the hardness, the coldness, of packed earth. But there was no smell of dirt, or sense of being outdoors.

She lay there motionless, almost afraid to try to move. Would something attack her? Would she be devoured in one quick movement by something wild in the brush?

Then unconsciousness took hold.

Upon regaining consciousness, she realized she could breathe fine. Her soft bed was beneath her, and her bedroom was lit by rays of sunshine coming through her lacey curtains. The memory of the nightmarish happenings of earlier was still with her, though. What had happened? Was it a bad dream, a nightmare? Had she been kidnapped and placed in a dark entombment and then suddenly returned to the safety of her home?

She sat up in the bed, believing at that point that it was all a nightmare; one she never wanted to relive. Sliding slowly off the bed to her feet she noticed how everything in the room seemed prettier, brighter, fancier. She ran downstairs and swung open the front door, rushing outside, not caring she was still in her nightgown. Birds were singing and chirping, squirrels were playing tag around the trees, dogs were barking at the mailman, the grass was the brightest green she had ever seen, and she could smell the very evergreen of the trees.

She sat on the bottom step to contemplate what had just happened. Then it hit her. The night before had not been a nightmare. Nor had she been kidnapped and returned. It had been a vision of sorts. She had fallen victim to herself. She had allowed the pressures of the world to take their toll on her. We have the power to choose……..to choose if we want to allow others to make us unhappy, or to brush off the hurt of their words and move on with our lives. To choose whether or not to allow the horrible actions of the world around us to taint our own view of the world. To choose whether or not it is important whether others believe what we say is the truth, because we know what we say IS the truth.

Losing people in your life, whether to death, loss of friendship, or other circumstances, hurts us all. It is what we do with that hurt, that pain, that makes us who we are.