Do you ever meet someone who has a messy room clothes scattered everywhere knickknacks empty food wrappers piled so high you can't even see or find the floor because it's buried under miles of a mess and when you ask the person why they don't clean it up they say I know where everything is I like it this way it's comfortable I'm used to it comfortable messes we make those a lot in our lives maybe not in our rooms but certainly in our minds we the ones that feel too much Misunderstood rejected Neglected Ignored spending our whole life fighting for just a scrap of attention that falls from the table of the normal ones the holy gods who know what love without doubt reflection without disgust friendship without fear life without a façade feel like because they aren't being constantly traumatized by their thoughts. I am on a first name basis with depression and anxiety They come over nightly and are the first ones that greet me in the morning. Trash talking me to sleep and warping my perception when I wake. Apologizing with every inhale cursing me with every exhale but at least they hold me and say "I'm here" an abusive comfort but it's comfort none the less since nothing else offered it's hand when I asked Its front door is my ribcage its favorite place is my cheeks. I became a home letting sadness fill the vacancy tragedy put in my chest and I guess being needed was nice when I didn't think anyone else did. I was unaware of renovation they had in mind Replacing my passions with paralysis My deity with doubt My social scene with solitude My self esteem with sharp objects And the persuasive whisper that it will feel good I promise replaced my cry for help and turned me into an addict with the pink flesh to prove it. I even get to wear short sleeves cause nobody notices Cue the incessant bullying of being an attention seeker Because I didn't pull down the curtain of long sleeves over my struggle I was honest and you said I was weak But you're right I am not sick I do not need a doctor I am a circus act And the ringmaster is suicide. I did all I could I asked and you denied I verbalized and you said it was an illusion Well how about a disappearing act Where I will hear the applause of my consistent companions depression and anxiety and all the boys and girls who mocked me and even you who kept going even though I said no You took my worth by the roots and planted deception in its place and deception became truth because worth had already withered away I am standing in a room and I cannot find the floor It is a mess but I am used to it This is how I was raised Drowning in the sorrow and it's comfortable.
But you'd miss the colors wouldn't you? The green of the grass The blue of the water The pink of bubblegum The red of roses You'd miss the sunsets wouldn't you? For every time you went on a walk at dusk and said "this can't be the last one I see" And you'd miss the future wouldn't you even though it seems incredibly dim right now and the pointlessness is the point to a pen of grief with which you'd scratch out every what if and possibility But the pens not in your hand And the right king can put Humpty Dumpty back together again Your life doesn't always have to be held together by a safety pin It will take time but there is always the option of a needle and thread So once more will you extend you hand if I told you that hope is willing to reach back And it has scars just like you Misunderstood Rejected Abandoned And bullied too Hope isn't ashamed to associate with you it It's favorite sound is your voice So you have a choice Will you let the reasons win or will you let hope in? You can still be a home You have a garden inside you but you now have a gardener that knows how to let worth grow And it's only renovation plan is to evict the Unwanted Unneeded Unloved Unimportant Identity you've been Living in Because you may be on a first name basis with depression and anxiety but they are not your friends Because they never fed you love they made you overweight with lies instead But hope has a scarlet thread and it knit a sweater for your heart because it is fragile and hope never wants to tear it apart and I promise you that redemptive love says you're enough And it washes over you like the euphoria of a kid going to Disney for the first time Acceptance without alteration Kindness overthrows isolation You are so much more than the stress that got to you, that's why Hope died on a cross, to say I love you. I am standing in a room It's a mess that's im used to But I'm finally uncomfortable I'm willing to risk starting again I'm on a first name basis with Jesus And as he clears it all away The weight of freedom falls My sadness doesn't own me anymore I can finally see the floor.
I was again commissioned by Encounter Student Ministries to write this as the opener for their 13 Reasons series discussing hard topics such as suicide, depression, self harm and ****.