Living Ghosts

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There are times when I look at the world we live in, and all I can see is a land full of ghosts – a world covered with soulless creatures that seem to be living, but show no evidence of breath, emotion, or life. I feel like people are “living” – or rather “existing” – in a state of paralysis. A lot of us have paralyzed our hopes, dreams, and aspirations, and along with those, we have paralyzed our spirits. We are living ghosts going through the motions of life without actually living it. We are lost and confused, frozen in a space between the purposeful lives we used to imagine for ourselves and the empty lives we now dwell in.

It is important that we realize that we are not yet dead. Thankfully, we still have the breath of life, and we still have the chance to stimulate and revitalize our paralyzed spirits. The parts of ourselves that we’ve numbed and broken by telling ourselves such things as: “no,” “you can’t,” “you’re not good enough,” “you’re not smart enough,” “you don’t have the talent,” “you’re not pretty enough,” “someone else can do it better,” and so on, we have to now awaken and heal through positive thoughts, actions, and affirmations. “Yes!” “You can!” “You are good enough!” “You are very smart!” “You have many talents!” “You are beautiful!” “Who cares what someone else is doing; your best is always enough!”

We can no longer live as the shell of the person we were created to be. We must embrace the miraculous life we’ve been given and fully live it. How can we dare live as ghosts today, when the hope of tomorrow is ever alive and well?

Something keeps me lifted, but it isn’t hope.
I believe that it is regret that makes me now float.
I float above the earth; above the life I let waste away.
I float above my buried soul that cries for me to stay.

I listen to those shrieks and place my feet back on the ground.
I shed my ghostly existence and give life another round.
No more flooding seas of doubt or stifling valleys of despair.
Hope now keeps me afloat; my head stays in the air.