Explore You

Explore beyond the fragile windowpanes, and the mystery of locked doors, and the hard, finality of the concrete floors. Beyond the perfect package of the standard stuffy four walls. Beyond the oddly terrifying cage of the chain linked fence, and the false bravado of the classy white picket stakes, and the seemingly invisible boarders that separate us from place to place. Push beyond the pangs of doubt that riddle your mind and make you feel like you must remain. Close. Don’t stay too close. For comfort is merely freedom’s evil twin encroaching on the hunt to find you. Explore you. Navigate your way through the flourishing fields of flowers, past the rickety, rocky paths of rivers, and the darling, but dangerous personalities of people. Be everywhere and be nowhere. Teach your heart to yearn for the unexpected treats of time and the burden of unrelenting knowledge. Learn to trust the feeling of joy and embrace the pity of foolishness. Agitate your habits of fearlessness. Fear. Only yourself. For you are the leader juggling the journey and steering the voyage to victory. Explore what victory means. Bury yourself deep in pillows of potential; find holes in the sheets, stains on the mattress, and creatively crack the code that will smooth out the lumps. Explore ideas. Drive yourself to the edge of the cliff of consciousness. Spur the engine until your heart bleeds and your lungs burn and your skin stings and your brain breathes sighs of relief. Explore the possibilities of letting go. Go. Against and with the grain, sprinting, running, and walking in countless directions while you search for your inner compass. Stand still. Soak up rays of warmth and give the sun permission to help you grow. Keep growing. Grow beyond the imperative institutions that ask you to use persuasion as art, and while flying through the realms of rationality and judgment, question what classifies you as smart. Dance beyond the redundancy of canonized theories, tales, and talks, all while gracefully generating golden original thoughts. Share. Everything and nothing. For balance will calm the waves if the storm shatters your soul. Explore what you are able to control.

Illustration by Jessica Groom