Head Above the Water

I just spent a very enjoyable 3 hours with an old friend I hadn’t met in more than a year. And as it often is with old friends, after the initial joy of being together wore off, it was like we’d never been apart all that while. We slipped into intensely personal conversations as easily as if we’d never spent a year in different continents, emailing each other once in a blue moon.
While in conversation, we discovered that we had both undergone similar experiences and similar trials and tribulations. The subjects we started discussing were unintentionally heavy and loaded. But having known each other the way we have, it all seemed to flow rather effortlessly.
We discussed the importance of not allowing life to get the better of us; of finding a way to defeat the demons we all face at some time or another. Some of us go through more than others; some of us create our own obstacles, while others have them strewn in their paths though no fault of their own. Of course, none are as hard to overcome as those we believe are of our own making, knowingly or unknowingly.

The hardest battles to fight are the ones we have to fight within ourselves
The harshest judgements to bear are the ones we pass on ourselves
The memories hardest to forget are the ones that condemn us
And suddenly, it is so hard to live with ourselves….