This is not the first time I have stepped down this twisted path. The road before me is as familiar to me, as the stars are to the Owl. I know each rock and hole, each tree and root, each hunter and prey. This section should be an easy one to navigate, as I know the hazards that lay before me. Yet, every time I have begun, I have failed.
As I gear up to set off once more I have to make a change. A drastic change, one that goes deer than my soul, if I have one. A change that goes against my every fiber. I must forget everything I ever knew about the road, its curves and hills. I cannot let myself become blinded by comfort and confidence. I must erase the map from my mind, and ignore the markers on the path.
Most of all, I have to open myself to people. And that will be the hardest for me to accomplish. Not only do I have to open my closely guarded heart and leave it unprotected, but I must seek out the swords that could kill me.
As I gear up to set off once more I have to make a change. A drastic change, one that goes deer than my soul, if I have one. A change that goes against my every fiber. I must forget everything I ever knew about the road, its curves and hills. I cannot let myself become blinded by comfort and confidence. I must erase the map from my mind, and ignore the markers on the path.
Most of all, I have to open myself to people. And that will be the hardest for me to accomplish. Not only do I have to open my closely guarded heart and leave it unprotected, but I must seek out the swords that could kill me.
I know those that I must find, only by their titles as given to me by the stars: the Teacher, the Guide, the Critic, the Foe, and the Reader. Each has their own knowledge that will help me reach the end of this road and the beginning of the next. Each has the potential to either lift me up or crush me. And I must allow it to happen, for failure is not an option this time.
As I go forth to seek them, I go filled with fear so deep I taste its bitterness on the back of my tongue. I feel naked and unprotected and the trees, once so familiar, bare down on me with faces of strangers. But I do not go alone. Beside me stands my Knight in Plaid armor, and the minions who are as formidable as any constipated dragon.
The first step is the hardest they say, but I disagree. It's not the first, nor the second, nor even the third, but the many ones after that. Starting is easy for me, it's the keeping on that always gets me in the end. Maybe this time if I head out believing that each step is the first, I'll make it to the end, and finally taste the sweet flavor of victory.
As I go forth to seek them, I go filled with fear so deep I taste its bitterness on the back of my tongue. I feel naked and unprotected and the trees, once so familiar, bare down on me with faces of strangers. But I do not go alone. Beside me stands my Knight in Plaid armor, and the minions who are as formidable as any constipated dragon.
The first step is the hardest they say, but I disagree. It's not the first, nor the second, nor even the third, but the many ones after that. Starting is easy for me, it's the keeping on that always gets me in the end. Maybe this time if I head out believing that each step is the first, I'll make it to the end, and finally taste the sweet flavor of victory.