Simply Greys

Biology says that we are who we are from birth, that our DNA is set in stone. Unchangeable. Our DNA doesn’t account for all of us, though. Life changes us. We develop new trades. Become less territorial. We stop competing. We learn from our mistakes. We face our greatest fears. For better or worse. We find ways to change our biology. The risk, of course, is that we can change too much, to the point we don’t recognize ourselves. Finding a way back can be difficult. There is no compass, no map. We just have to close our eyes, take a step and hope to God we’ll get there.

People have scars. In all sorts of unexpected places. Like secret road maps of their personal histories. Diagrams of all their old wounds. Most of our wounds heal, leaving nothing behind but a scar. But some of them don’t. Some wounds we carry with us everywhere and though the cut’s long gone, the pain still lingers.

We’re supposed to feel. We’re supposed to love and hate. And hurt and grieve and break and be destroyed and rebuild ourselves to be destroyed again. That is human. That is humanity. That’s being alive. That’s the point. That’s the entire point. Don’t avoid it. Don’t extinguish it.

Failure is inevitable, unavoidable but failure should never get the last word. You have to hold on to what you want. You have to not take no for an answer and take what’s coming to you. Never give in, never give up. Stand up and take it.

It always comes as a shock. The moment you realize it’s over. One minute, you’re standing on solid ground. The next minute, you’re not.

Whoever said ‘What you don’t know can’t hurt you’, was a complete and total moron. Because for most people I know, not knowing is the worst feeling in the world.