Spoken Word - The Journey Back To Myself
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2025 10:21 am
Anxiety
is a subtle guest
with heavy steps.
It arrives unexpectedly,
let itself in,
and suddenly the space I occupy
feels too confined
for the magnitude of my own heartbeat.
It’s peculiar,
how one can be surrounded
and still feel as if they’re standing
on an island of uncertainties,
waves of concern crashing
even when the surface appears calm
to everyone else.
That’s the essence of isolation.
The unseen gap.
The quiet descent.
The sensation that everyone else
received a manual on how to live
while you’re still searching
for the first page.
But here’s what I’ve come to understand:
I’m not shattered.
I’m not tardy to the lesson.
I’m not the sole survivor
of a conflict only I can perceive.
No,
I’m an individual
who continually chooses to step back
into the world
even when it feels burdensome.
I’m a person
who consistently shows up
to a life that sometimes unsettles me.
I’m someone
whose bravery resides quietly
but intensely
in the space between two breaths.
And every time I rise,
even if the rise is minor,
even if it’s gradual,
I create a pathway
back to myself.
A pathway through the mist.
A pathway through the clamor.
A pathway through the inquiries
that masquerade as answers.
And I traverse it.
Even with shaky feet.
Even with tearful eyes.
Even when the gap
between who I am
and who I aspire to be
seems impossibly vast.
Because that’s the reality
that isolation attempts to conceal:
I’m not walking it alone.
No one is.
There are countless others
navigating their way
through the same conditions,
learning to breathe
in the same tempest,
searching for the same light
through the same fissures in the dark.
And recognizing that,
feeling that,
makes each step a bit more stable.
So I persist.
I keep striving.
I keep rising.
Not because the anxiety has vanished,
but because I am present,
and that is sufficient to start anew.
This is the extended journey
back to myself.
And I am making this journey
with hope in my pocket,
with strength in my heart,
and with a quiet, growing truth
at the core of my being:
I may feel isolated,
but I am never truly lost.
To watch the video version of my spoken word please click the link.
https://youtube.com/shorts/BiS69rteZHc? ... tU4uK8hrpO
is a subtle guest
with heavy steps.
It arrives unexpectedly,
let itself in,
and suddenly the space I occupy
feels too confined
for the magnitude of my own heartbeat.
It’s peculiar,
how one can be surrounded
and still feel as if they’re standing
on an island of uncertainties,
waves of concern crashing
even when the surface appears calm
to everyone else.
That’s the essence of isolation.
The unseen gap.
The quiet descent.
The sensation that everyone else
received a manual on how to live
while you’re still searching
for the first page.
But here’s what I’ve come to understand:
I’m not shattered.
I’m not tardy to the lesson.
I’m not the sole survivor
of a conflict only I can perceive.
No,
I’m an individual
who continually chooses to step back
into the world
even when it feels burdensome.
I’m a person
who consistently shows up
to a life that sometimes unsettles me.
I’m someone
whose bravery resides quietly
but intensely
in the space between two breaths.
And every time I rise,
even if the rise is minor,
even if it’s gradual,
I create a pathway
back to myself.
A pathway through the mist.
A pathway through the clamor.
A pathway through the inquiries
that masquerade as answers.
And I traverse it.
Even with shaky feet.
Even with tearful eyes.
Even when the gap
between who I am
and who I aspire to be
seems impossibly vast.
Because that’s the reality
that isolation attempts to conceal:
I’m not walking it alone.
No one is.
There are countless others
navigating their way
through the same conditions,
learning to breathe
in the same tempest,
searching for the same light
through the same fissures in the dark.
And recognizing that,
feeling that,
makes each step a bit more stable.
So I persist.
I keep striving.
I keep rising.
Not because the anxiety has vanished,
but because I am present,
and that is sufficient to start anew.
This is the extended journey
back to myself.
And I am making this journey
with hope in my pocket,
with strength in my heart,
and with a quiet, growing truth
at the core of my being:
I may feel isolated,
but I am never truly lost.
To watch the video version of my spoken word please click the link.
https://youtube.com/shorts/BiS69rteZHc? ... tU4uK8hrpO