This story is written to be read with imagination. You can fill in the gaps, expand the characters, and add thoughts, feelings and actions. This story is a framework for you to elaborate on, add to and own.
Johnny knew he’d have to go soon. But when, where and how to go? These were some of the questions whirling around inside his head, along with “Am I ready? Is it the right time? What will the new place be like?” He didn’t have answers to these questions; he just knew he had to go.
The day came. He woke up knowing it was time. Just knowing. Nothing special had happened or changed but he felt different, and he knew he had to go. Now!
He said his farewells: to people, places, friends and family. They cried. He cried. He left. He tore himself away from everything he knew and set off. Sad to leave and happy to be on his way. Fearful of what might happen and excited about the future. Angry that he had to go, energised that he was going.
At first, the journey was easy, but as he travelled further from what he knew, his feelings changed. The happiness was replaced by loneliness; the excitement turned to apprehension and the level of energy waned. “Why is it getting so hard?” he asked himself. “Why did I leave what I loved and knew so well?” The days went by, and the feelings worsened as the strangeness of the space he was travelling though became more apparent. The loneliness became despair, the apprehension turned to terror and the anger returned. But not the energy.
He reached the bottom; the point from which it was too far to go back and too hard to keep going forward. Halfway between his past and his future, his point of no return. He wept, he trembled, he stopped.
Then he heard a voice saying, “Don’t stop now, this is the good part. This is where you learn who you are and what you stand for; this is where you become more fully who you are intended to be, who you really are.”
He listened and felt a glimmer of hope. He remembered why he’d left, he remembered what he’d dreamed of achieving. He realised he’d made a good decision to come on this journey. Something shifted deep within him. A different energy began to flow through his body. The energy reached his eyes and he could see the path more clearly. The energy reached his heart and he felt renewed. The energy reached his legs, and he could walk again. He had turned a corner. He began to enjoy the journey.
It was still tough going. His destination didn’t seem any closer, but he noticed glimmers of progress, moments of achievement and morsels of satisfaction. He kept going. Night followed day, day followed night, and Johnny had a sense that he might just make it.
He realised he was getting closer to his goal. It seemed to be calling him, supporting his weary body, his aching heart, and his troubled mind. He felt lighter, stronger, fresher than he had felt for ages. He realised that he had emerged from the dark space, the space between what was and what would be. He’d made it to a point where the new was starting to take shape and form, starting to feel possible. Not comfortable but at least possible.
He felt excited again, and energised, and exhausted. He wondered how anyone could have so many different feelings at the same time. He buzzed, he hummed, he knelt, he stood. And he kept going. With new hope.
Then he saw it. The place he was headed. It wasn’t quite how he’d imagined but it was certainly better than what he’d left behind. And it was no longer a tiny dot on the horizon but growing, becoming clearer, taking shape, becoming real.
“I can do this!” he said to himself. The aches fell away, the doubt receded, and the wounds healed. A sense of newness spread through him as he moved on. And on. And on.
Until one day he realised he was there! He’d made it. He wasn’t nowhere anymore. He was where he’d been headed. He felt tender and vulnerable, but his being had a new depth to it: a certainty, a knowing, a solidarity that was calming yet full of possibility.
And he knew he was in the place where he could be who he needed to be. Where he could do what he needed to do, think what he needed to think, and feel how he needed to feel.
Not forever, but until the moment when he would once again know it was time to go.
For more information or support on this topic you can contact me at: daveb@potential.co.nz
Words by Dave Burton
Coromind: Coromandel’s Collaborative Magazine
Help us take Coromind Magazine to new heights by becoming a member. Click here
Change the Weather for Your Business: Advertise with Us.
Advertise your business in the whole Hauraki Coromandel in the coolest Coromandel Art Magazine, from Waihi Beach/Paeroa /Thames up to the Great Barrier Island.
Advertise Smarter, Not Harder: Get in Touch
