Through the Fog

Tag: pressure

  • Still Coal

    If pressure makes diamonds,

    how the hell am I still coal?

    I’ve been buried long enough.

    Pressed by expectations,

    by grief,

    by every version of myself

    that was supposed to turn out better.

    I’ve held the weight.

    Didn’t crack loudly.

    Didn’t fall apart in a way

    anyone noticed.

    I just stayed dark,

    compressed,

    waiting for something miraculous

    to happen.

    They say pressure builds strength.

    They say suffering refines you.

    They say one day

    you’ll shine.

    But nobody talks about the waiting—

    how long it takes,

    how quiet it is,

    how easy it is to believe

    you’re not becoming anything at all.

    Maybe I’m not broken.

    Maybe I’m just unfinished.

    Maybe not all pressure polishes—

    some of it just teaches you

    how to survive underground.

    So if I’m still coal,

    it’s not because I failed.

    It’s because transformation

    doesn’t happen on a schedule,

    and not every miracle

    glitters right away.

  • Running in Place

    I can’t help feeling like everything is at stake,

    like one wrong move will collapse

    every fragile thing I’ve been balancing.

    So I lock myself inside my head—

    bolt the doors,

    pace the floors,

    run in place until my lungs burn

    and call it preparation.

    I don’t freeze because I don’t care.

    I freeze because I care too much.

    Because every decision feels loaded,

    every choice feels permanent,

    every step forward feels like a gamble

    I can’t afford to lose.

    My mind turns into a track meet—

    thoughts sprinting,

    worst-case scenarios stretching,

    my heart pounding like it’s doing something heroic

    while my life stays exactly where it is.

    I analyze.

    I overthink.

    I tear every option apart

    until nothing feels safe enough to touch.

    I tell myself I’m being careful,

    that caution is wisdom,

    that staying still is strategy.

    But really—

    I’m terrified.

    Terrified of messing it up.

    Terrified of proving every fear right.

    Terrified that trying and failing

    will hurt worse than never trying at all.

    So I run in place.

    Sweat, strain, panic—

    no distance covered.

    Just exhaustion layered on top of regret,

    momentum without movement,

    noise without progress.

    I scream inside my head

    while the world keeps going,

    unaware that I’m fighting a war

    no one can see

    and losing ground by standing still.

    I’m angry at the pressure.

    Angry at myself.

    Angry that wanting something badly

    can paralyze you just as easily

    as not wanting anything at all.

    And maybe the cruelest part

    is knowing this isn’t living—

    it’s containment.

    It’s fear disguised as discipline.

    It’s survival mode

    with nowhere to go.

    I don’t need another plan.

    I don’t need another rehearsal.

    I need the courage to stop running in place

    and accept that movement—

    real movement—

    will always feel dangerous

    to someone who’s been hurt before.

    But I’m so damn tired

    of sprinting nowhere,

    of locking myself away

    from the very life

    I’m trying so hard

    not to lose.