What happens when your foundation is built on quicksand?
When the choices of your forebears lead you into the ground?
When a lifetime of struggling shows no sign of advancement?
When you feel like there is no way out?
You can build a false castle
Grabbing at whatever matter is at hand
Manipulating debris to prop you up
Hoping it will pile up faster than it will sink
Fragile, needy and unstable
It will hold up with constant attention
But there will be no rest or peace housed here.
It is a house of appearance
A reverse fun house mirror
You can fool admirers, so long as they don't linger
Delude them with charm
Torment them with envy
Seduce them with love
And when they ask what lies in the dungeon,
Announce that the party is over and it's time to go.
You know what you've buried beneath
The truth that you've failed at hiding from yourself;
That your fortress is plunging;
By confining yourself within its walls
You will go down with it.
In your mind you decide
That this is all there is
It is what's been handed down
A legacy of lemons leads you to choose between
A life of swallowing bitter lemonade
Or choosing nothing and letting life swallow you.
But if you took a minute to look outside of yourself
Into a world of vast opportunities
You'd realize that you don't have to live there
You don't have to sink
Or waste anymore of your energy maintaining a false facade.
Why should it matter if people find out you're flawed?
You will find there are people who are empathetic and kind.
Why should it matter if you failed in holding up the existing structure?
Continuing on with fruitless endeavors will never be an accomplishment.
Why should it matter if you couldn't keep what was given to you?
If someone gives you a handful of broken glass, would you grip it tighter?
Why should it matter that you fear stepping outside of all you've ever known?
Fear of the unknown allows for more hope than the fear of imminent doom.
Let go of the sentimentality of time--
You will find that your present and future are more malleable than the past.
Let go of your ego--
You will find the road to well-earned pride is clearer if you stopped getting in your way.
Let go of your greed--
You will find that what you are is more than enough.
Let go of yourself--
You will find that the one you've been isn't the one you have to be.
You can walk outside
Head toward stable ground and look back
Long enough to see how quickly weak support systems fall without your attention
To watch the wreckage of your unreliable fortress sink into the sand
Swallowed into depths where they are no longer your burden.
You will be left with nothing but yourself
You'll find the energy to build what it was that you were pretending to have
On a solid base, with the safety and comfort one finds with knowledge that it will hold effortlessly
Motivated by the momentum forward, outward and upward
Instead of the frantic panic of trying to keep a decrepit existence afloat.
So what happens when your foundation is built on quicksand?
Let it sink.
When the choices of your forebears lead you into the ground?
Leave those in the past and choose a new future.
When a lifetime of struggling shows no advancement?
Find something worth fighting for.
When you feel like there is no way out?
Stop shorting yourself, because there is always a way.
