Sunday, March 20, 2011

Welcome to the Terrordome

That is one of my all-time favorite hip-hop songs. It's packed with energy, aggression and power and speaks to something deep within myself that rarely shows it's head in public. Gems like " dropping a bomb, brain game, intellectual Vietnam", "Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamp" and "It's weak to speak and blame somebody else when you destroy yourself" are like candy to my ears. The Terrordome to be conjures up a place of fear and isolation that exists in your own head. In this place you are in a mental prison, where resources are scarce and nothing is sacred or familiar. I often look out of my overpriced graduate housing window and imagine that I am in a terrordome. Often I don't even have the pluck to go downstairs and get something to eat, out of fear and laziness. I can think of no shelters, no safe places in Philly for me.

What is a safe space? For me it's a place where I can go and just be. Not feel like I am lurking there or that I can't stop for a minute to take a breath. In Atlanta, I had the townhouse, apartments of friends, my favorite restaurants, even parts of Morehouse were comfortable for me. Here, not so much. Is it my fault? Yeah, I must admit that. Again those coarse, ugly human frailties got me again. I have a lot to do. And blog, I know you know that. I always have a lot to do. What's different now is that I am the catalyst for where and how my life goes at this point. No college, no parents to answer to. I have to make decisions about what I value, how much work I want to put it, where I want to work, where I want to live --- and that is scary. It should be empowering, right? I mean, at this point I should be moving into a wider circle of friends, experience and knowledge to be able to rock through the rest of my twenties and solidify the person that I want to be.

I have a habit of perceiving the environment I am in as hostile. No matter how or what situation I find myself, I end up slightly hating the people around me, and believing the universe is conspiring against me, to thwart me so that I end up in some dire state. I'm so kind to myself, right? I do it because it's an easy way for me to rationalize why I feel I was slighted by fate. I could go on about the many things I see lacking in myself, the good things are not plain to me. But my perspective, my negative one, so colors how I experience the world, and I'm tired of wearing these glasses of blue (sorrow), black (despair), yellow (anxiety/irritation), and red (anger). I probably wear the black and yellow shades the most (Wiz!), and it gets tiring. Sometimes it's enough to make me want to break down and cry, which I did a few days ago.

I'm working through a transformation on how I see myself, the world, and my place within it. Although I am world's happier and more fulfilled than when I first started blogging, I have a long way to go. There are so many things I want to do and experience. I want to fall in love, I want people around me that rely on me and vice versa, great career, a nice home, travel abroad, etc … Things I want so badly for myself but I recognize won't come about if I don't get my act together. I can keep living in a fog to avoid these choices and decisions I have to make about my life. They are challenging, scary, but real. The longer I put them off means the longer I keep myself from growing into the person I am meant to be.

Ok, time to get back to work, but I will be musing more on this, as I prepare for my first appointment with a therapist here. Funny the appointment was made over a month ago, that's how "busy" they are here.


 

2 comments:

  1. I see we're traveling on the same boat, so at least you're not alone. Faith is factor here. The belief that these goals will come into fruition will motivate you. It's all a state of mind. Your happiness, courage, and freedom are all a state of mind. You're on the right track, but you have to put faith into good use, and watch what happens.

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  2. Keep your head up kid. Allow yourself not to dwell on the negative but to find the positive. Sometimes in order to get to that next level in life we gotta experience getting out of our comfort zone. You may not like it but that shouldn't stop you from trying to make the best of it.

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