Rise With The Light

Just as the sun and moon rise and fall with the tides, so too do we die each night, only to be reborn in the morning. With the dawn we are faced with the decision to continue as the same person we were when we turned out the lights, or to recreate ourselves as someone new.

We can adopt a new persona, try on a new character as we might try on a hat, or try to emulate those we admire. Alternatively, we could try to not be someone else. We could try not to follow in the footsteps of an abusive parent, or to continue the traits of a sociopathic boss, or to be like those people who represent everything that we despise, despite being deeply aware that we share some of those attributes.

Or maybe there’s another option. As we step into the breaking light of a new day, a new year, and a new decade, how about we shed all the things that we are not, just as we might brush the sleep from our eyes. Blinking, we might just see our reflection with full clarity for once, and catch a glimpse of who we really are.

Having shaken off the accumulated dust and lint of the past, just as a snake sheds its skin, we might see ourselves, fresh-faced and cleansed. Behind us stands the transparent shell of our old selves, a flimsy carapace looking a lot like us, only dried out and tired, and flaking into the breeze as it slowly breaks down into echoes and memories. But ahead of us lies a clear golden path to a future that was created just for us, and here we stand rejuvenated, faced with the choice of taking that first step.

When we release the trappings of the past – the notions of who we thought we were supposed to be, of who the media want us to be, that advertisers need us to be, that everyone else thinks we should be – we are left with who we truly are.

And in this new dawn, the fresh light illuminates us, and we have a decision to make. We can either let this cleansing light penetrate deep beneath our skin until we start to shine ourselves, from every cell and sinew. Or we can shade ourselves from it, and carry on dragging the past with us into the shadows, like the burdensome scales of a weary reptile, weighed down by trauma and regret, shame, defeat, and fear.

Choose the latter and nothing gets better. Choose the former and you will grow into the light.

The sun’s coming up. Will you rise with it?