There is more to life than what we see. I suppose this is true for us as well. There is more to life and more to us than what appears on the surface level.
There are more features beneath the surface, yet it seems common that people notice the surface levels without daring or bothering to dig deeper than the flesh of someone’s skin.

This is how you know when someone cares.
You can see this because they notice small things. Maybe they notice the unspoken things, which is often the case because when someone cares, they can tell that the words, “I’m fine,” are not true.

I suppose the real question for me to answer has become this.
What’s my purpose?
What is my reason for being and living because more than anything else, I do not want to be here just to be here or take up space.
I want to be more than someone who fills a void because if this is it, or if this is all I am, then I am nothing more than void or void in the sense that I am only here to kill time.
That’s the last thing I want to do.
I want be more than some kind of mild distraction to an otherwise, bigger picture.

What has to happen?
What needs to wake a person up so that they are no longer sleepwalking through life?

I have been me for as long as I can remember.
I have tried to be different. I tried to be other people or someone else, but no matter how I tried, the only person I could ever be is me.

Anything else was fake, like an imposter.
I’ve been a fraud before, like a bad check that has no business or funds to cover the debt.
I’ve been this before too, or otherwise bankrupt, empty, or voided like a canceled check that was no longer worth the paper it was printed on.

However, past endings and old challenges are no longer my focus nor should they be.
Bottom line is as follows:
This is me.
This is my skin, or like I always say, “this is the skin I’m in.”

I suppose a better question to ask is, “What is it?”
What is it? What gets you out of bed in the morning?
What motivates you to get out of bed and go to work?
Or if you don’t work, what pushes you?
What drives you?
What is it that makes you put in work?
Or what happens that makes you want to stand up even if you don’t have the strength to stand?

Some people tell me “it’s my kids.”
Or I hear people say, “I do it for my family,” which I get and I understand.
But what is it?
What turns and revs your engine?
What gets your motor running despite the empty gas tank?
What is it?

I believe in things, such as the war of man or the war within. I believe in the power of these battles and how the devastation of thought can lead us to our own forms of self-destruction.
I am far from alone with this. Then again, life in thought can lead us to lonesome places, whereas the abandonment and the suspicion of betrayals can cause us to lead preemptively, we tend to cause our own collateral damage or needlessly strike first and fast to keep us safe.

And so, if it is within me, then this is within me — and so, the rest is up to me.
Peace is a decision. I agree. Much like the peaceful warriors who have learned to differentiate their battlegrounds, I need to find my way and find the horizon where promises live.

I often go back and consider what my life might have been like if I were to make one simple change. Perhaps I have spent too much time on this.
Or maybe this is enough to motivate me and keep my past from being my present.

I pick a time or an age and consider the differences that might have been. Then again, hindsight has perfect vision, which makes it easier for people to beat themselves up when they think about the conclusions or the unwanted criticisms.
We all have dreams.
We all have plans too.
I say these things are enough to keep us alive, even if we feel like we’re dead, or like someone in our life is killing us –
(slowly).

If I could want to be anything, then I suppose I would want to be anything better than situations around me.
Look around. Look at the unfinished plans or listen to the common arguments that seem to go on for hours.

I say this with all certainty because I look around and I see the fights and problems. I see the items around me, which have changed over the years.
I see myself and my small place. I see my losses. And I see my bank account, which is not what it used to be.

I have designed this place for years now.
I tell you this because this place means the world to me, even if it’s not real or real to the rest of the world. But for all this is worth, this place is real to me.
And so are you.
I have created this little spot in my head like a studio or workshop to help maintain my sanity.
I needed this. And, I needed you too. Hence, this is why I’m here.

I had to build a place for myself, even if only in my mind.
I did this so that I could find somewhere safe to be myself and open up.