The Enemy Within

On the days when life is a vacuum,
a merciless vortex sucking up
the debris of resting dreams,
careering towards apathy
towards assured uncertainty
and annihilating truth,
remember this headspace
is void of matter and
vacancies are formed to be filled.
©Assumpta Ozua 2015

An old African proverb says, “When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside can do you no harm.”

Oftentimes, I am my own worst enemy and harshest critic. Through conversations with others and reading various articles and blog posts, I know this is not a trait synonymous to me. I find this mildly comforting. I am super positive and optimistic for others but I am yet to fully overcome the aforementioned peculiarity in myself – I’m working on it though and bizarrely it keeps me on my toes.

I have been decidedly absent from my blog (and abstained from reading the blogs of others) for almost 6 weeks now. I started to get a little disheartened because people began asking me about numbers / how many people actually visit this space, which led to a lot of rumination and wondering if anyone was truly bothered about what I was writing or cared in fact.

Pity party aside, I reminded myself that I write because it’s what I love to do. Obviously I’d like for numerous people to read and take something from my work, otherwise I would just confine my thoughts to my journal and not share with the wider world. However, moving ten people with my words means just as much as 10,000 so I’ll continue. Plus it’s just nice to have a space for my musing other than on a page.

I ended 2015 and began 2016 with a wonderful sense of peace and excitement for what lies ahead. Somewhere during the course of the past few weeks, said enthusiasm has started to waiver but I suppose this post is a slap in the face prompt that so much awesome stuff has happened, is happening and will happen.

Following a conversation with an awesome individual recently, I remembered that I am in an incredibly fortunate position to have family (and close friends) that support me wholeheartedly. This enables me to take more risks than most knowing that they’ll be my parachute in case of emergency; it’s something I don’t take for granted.

Given the amount of support I have, I like to pay that forward by supporting others (sometimes strangers) in any way I can. Whether you receive it or not, why not be the best friend and motivator you would like in your own life? Not only will it encourage you on the dark days, but I believe you will reap the rewards in ways that you least expect,