What it means to be human…words by Renee McGregor

Time, give yourself time;

Allow yourself the space to process, reflect and accept.

Life doesn’t come with any guarantees, 

It’s a journey you need to learn to navigate.

Sometimes the paths you choose will lead to Eden, 

Sometimes not. 

Either way, the journey is what you make of it.

Anxiety causes distress and discomfort; 

It increases the production of intrusive and destructive thoughts. 

It pulls you into despair; allowing that nagging doubt to swallow you whole. 

Life becomes a restless fight encompassing every aspect of you. 

You thrash about, this way then that, looking for any opportunity to escape. 

You look for comfort but everything is short lived; a momentary release before you are plunged back down into the abyss of negative emotions. 

But what if there was another option? 

It can take a long time to appreciate that life is a choice. 

Pain, suffering, loss and sadness all part of our story but equally weighted with love, happiness, joy and hope.

What if we choose not to let self doubt or intrusive thoughts in? 

What if we let them pass- put them on a receding wave and watch them go out to the horizon? 

What if we choose not to let those perceptions define us or dictate how our day may pan out? 

Surely we can choose to celebrate rather than berate ourselves? 

“Life is what you make of it”

“Feel the fear and do it anyway”

That’s what we are told and while they may not be your chosen words, the sentiment is there to be understood. 

By allowing ourselves time, time to mourn, time to heal but mainly time to just be, 

we learn to appreciate that this is allowed- We are human after all; 

We don’t have to wrap all our emotions into knots, put them in a box, lock the box and throw away the key. 

We can feel and accept- moments of sadness and equal moments of happiness- that’s the merry-go-round that is life. 

But most importantly we have to choose to believe, believe that through the rutted and bumpy path, with time, our path will change again and this time it may end with blue sky and a pot of gold.