The "L" Word
It overtakes us whether we are ready or not.
Though we know it’s always somewhere near.
We fight with it.
We fall into it.
We give in to it.
It makes us do things we said we never would.
It brings people together, even if that was the last of our intentions.
The “L” word of the day: loneliness.
Loneliness can do all of this to the soundest of minds. It can surface at any time. At the end of a mind-consuming project. In the middle of life’s challenges. After a soul-enriching weekend. During an isolating snowstorm. At a fork in the road.
Loneliness, or worse yet, the fear of it can drive us into relationships that aren’t the best for us. Loneliness can make us settle without seeing the dead end of the path because we crave a noise; the noise that stirs the black when we feel alone.
In the black, our insecurities stream around us. In the black, we have to sit alongside our imperfections. In the black, we feel the reflections of our failures cast off us.
We see the people we are not…
the strength we do not have…
the bravery that escapes us…
we are suffocated by our own disappointments.
All of these things reveal themselves in the quiet of our loneliness.
So we run towards the noise though this noise can keep us from the greatness we should otherwise be pursuing.
Living a full life of intention is hard work. It takes every ounce of us to keep moving towards brilliance. When a hint of loneliness hits, it’s hard not to stumble and to grab onto the nearest thing to keep us moving…to keep us standing. But what is it worth? Is it best to stand up quickly leaning on someone else, only to be anchored down with an extra weight on the rest of our journey?
Or should we, rather
face the burden of loneliness head on
sit in the chill of the black alone
to then stand in our own time
ending up with the freedom to run…to fly?
— Ballyhoo Backcaster
