"Anchor" - Keepin yourself grounded

"We ought to find the thing that becomes our light in the darkness." 

 Often it happens that a sense of gloom surrounds us. The more we fill it, the more we hide in it. It can come in many different shapes and sizes -as many as there are people in the world-, but the result of experiencing is always the same: This gloom becomes a smoke screen that blinds us from our goals, our emotions, our desires, our perception of our surroundings and the ones that surrounds us. As a maze, the longer we stay in it, the harder it becomes to get out of it, we get lost inside this evolving monster with its shape shifting nature, transforming itself into doubts and questions making us believe we are taking two steps back for every one step forward.

The fact that you might experience this multiple times doesn’t necessarily means it becomes easier to get out of it the more it happens, if anything it becomes easier to fall int this trap -mind you it will be different for everyone, as I speak out of personal experience-. This gloom, like a virus, evolves and adapts itself to you as you change, bringing forward new challenge and difficulties to deal with it.

Process

“You have to find a way to keep yourself grounded” I remember a friend told me, while discussing the topic. And it makes sense; sometimes you need some time to wait for the wind to blow the smoke screen; maybe a calm head to decipher the nonsensical riddles that are being thrown at you; maybe you need for something or someone to find you, but with all the running around in the darkness this may never find you. And so, you need an anchor.

This anchor can be, and should be -for various reasons- different for every circumstance. Maybe it is the words of a stranger, a promise you are trying to keep to yourself or someone else, a mundane task as means of distraction, your favorite album, your favorite food, spending time with a lover a friend or family, going for a walk or doing exercise. No matter what it might be, this anchor becomes a way to remind yourself who and where you are; it is a way to say to yourself: “This fog is too dense, and might not be able to see the end of it, but here I have a light to keep me company and to guide me through it all.” We ought to find the thing that becomes our light in the darkness.

What a great skill it is then to be able to collect these anchors, to recognize them as such and use them when times get tough. Maybe, if can simplify this train of tough, I can say: remember to do things for yourself when you are feeling down to keep yourself grounded.