"Chill Bumps"

"On Looking Up By Chance At The Constellations"

by: Robert Frostie

Sometimes in life, we fall. And when I say we fall, it seems as if the very cliff upon which we stand erodes beneath, sending us into an emotional dive into peril. When on an express route to pain and sorrow, we often look for big changes to help us. In many different situations, our thought-processes turn into desperation mode – meaning, we look for complete 180 degree turn-arounds. Returning to the topic of the slow slip into sorrow, we pray and beg that we are dreaming, or someone is waiting to catch us, or even that we will land in marshmallow fluff at the bottom.

But often, that doesn’t end up switching the gravity. We fall, just as hard, just as fast. Sometimes even faster if one of our unrealistic thoughts before-mentioned fails us as well. So what do we do? What is there to do in a situation where we seem to be carrying the world on our back, all the while falling into deeper angst? And let me tell you, when falling off of a cliff, carrying things on your back surely does not help – ESPECIALLY if it is the whole world. But what do we do?

What I have come to realize is that we look for change in too much expectation. We don’t need a soldier to jump out of a plane, swoop in, attach a parachute to us, and fly off wishing us a good leisurely fall! What we need to do is look for the little things around us. Look for the roots, limbs, rocks, branches – anything that we can grab onto to slow down the fall. Trust me, if you can grab on and slow down the fall for just a second, another situation is going to become available. Suddenly, after falling so swiftly, it all turns around.

Not because of SpiderMan, but because you took the time to grab onto something small and hold on for dear life. Real life examples can be friends, teachers, prayer, sports, anything. Just hold on for dear life, and soon enough, other changes will come. What I find most magnificent about this theory is that when applied to real life, not only do we grab onto hope to slow our fall, not only do we find more reasons to completely stop the fall, but even MORE “branches” will become available for us to actually climb back up the very cliff we fell from. And how rewarding would it feel to conquer the mountain that sent you tumbling down?

Very.

-Noa