Step Away

Step away.

I think about how often this is needed in everyday life. How I feel lonely, sometimes to the point of tears, but I don't let others see those tears come because we are not supposed to cry.

Or how I feel a surge of love for a friend but I don't say anything because I'm frozen with fear of what those words might do to the relationship.

Then at other times my approach is exactly the opposite (especially at night after the children are tucked into bed). Turn on the faucet. Wash myself with the emotion. It will help, I think. If you let the fear inside, then you have to say to yourself, "It's just fear."

Same for loneliness: you let go, let the tears flow, feel it completely, eventually say, "That was my moment of loneliness. Now I'm going to put that loneliness aside and try not to feel afraid of being lonely."

It is getting harder and harder to step away.