The two of them were standing in front of the cliff staring at the water below them. The sound of waves fluttering, the cool breeze flowing would give anyone a sense of peace and serenity. But not her. It wasn’t a sunny day but every now and then, the clouds moved aside for the sun to flourish his light upon everything down below. ‘Such a beautiful day’, she thought, ‘How annoying’. “Jump” he said. “What?” He sighs and says “Jump”. She laughs. “You’re kidding? Why on earth would I actually jump?” “Just do it. You’ll feel better” he answers with a nonchalant look on his face. “And that will solve all my problems right? Just forget everything and act like a mad person.” She was too rational for her own good sometimes. “It probably won’t. But I still want you to jump” “Don’t care. I’m leaving”
She made it to the other side of the cliff before she realized that something or rather someone was pulling her off the ground. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? PUT ME DOWN!” He took her all the way towards the cliff and stood at the edge so that her body was hanging off the cliff and the only thing that was keeping her from falling was his arms. “You do this I swear I’ll take you to jail. I’m serious!” She waited for a response which didn’t come. Was he actually going to go through with this? She started to get teary, “I can’t. I’ll die. I really will”. He just smiled.”You know there were times when you told me you were hoping for just that”. That put things into perspective for her. What was even more bizarre was that she actually wanted to jump right now in this instant. He let go. She saw his face as she fell. Splash. Into the water she went.
For a few seconds she couldn’t feel anything. Blame it on fear. Soon, she opened her eyes. She immediately started panicking and tried to swim up. It wasn’t too long before she got all the way up. She then realized that the water wasn’t as deep as she thought it was. She went to the shore, climbed back up to the cliff and saw him sitting there waiting. “How was it?” She started at him blankly for a few seconds. There was no answer. She went back a few steps and ran. Ran towards the edge and jumped off. Splash. She had the same mix of emotions as she did the first time. Fear, regret and excitement. Once she fell into the water she swam upwards. This went on for a while. She’d go up run back and then towards to cliff and jump. He would just sit there and stare. After the 4th time, she started to get riddled with fatigue and decided to sit down with him. There was an air of silence between them. “What am I doing?” she whispered almost as if she was speaking to herself and not him. “I don’t know” he said with a chuckle. “This must be what drugs feel like”. This time he laughed.” Uuh no. No I don’t think it is”. “I just couldn’t stop.” She continued “I never felt as careless as I did when I jumped.” He wondered what was actually going through her mind right now. After a pregnant pause, he asked a question. “What did you feel when you fell in the water?” She looked back at him without any response. He was used to it now so he didn’t wait for an answer. She got up and threw herself off the edge. She wanted to know what comes after the worst part of doing something. Would it be even scarier? How could she not know even after jumping? This time was going to be different, she told herself. She let go of herself waiting for the waves to consume her body as she hit the water. She decided to stay longer this time. Eventually, her body started to move along with the waves. It was as if they were subtly dancing to a silent symphony. So was she.
Why was she in such a bad place in her life? Why was she beating herself up so much, constantly looking for advice and answers from people who didn’t have them? Then it hit her. She hit rock bottom. She felt as if all the worst things that she imagined could happen to her were actually happening. She was tired. So very tired. In those moments, her mind told her something she will never forget. You’ve fallen into your worst fears. You’ve drowned in them. You’re all the way down now. So from here on out, there’s no way to go except up. There’s no way to go except forward. She swam up and saw the light in the sky smiling at her in sunshines. Only this time, she smiled back. It’s going to be okay.
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Our mind constantly battles with us on so many things. Our feelings, our emotions, our experiences. All these things sometimes tend to overwhelm us. We look for answers everywhere except within ourselves. Trying to find rational answers to irrational thoughts. It tends to get to a point where our fear overpowers the thing that we were afraid of in the first place. The man who quite literally pushed the woman into the water is a figment of her imagination fighting against all the overwhelming issues she is dealing with. Regardless of whether she has a solution to these problems, he wanted her to forget everything and just jump. Even if it’s for a little while, let go. Although I do not recommend jumping off of cliffs, I do ask you to try and forget those overwhelming thoughts in your head and just go to a place that will ease your mind and body and let yourself be in peace. There’s no guarantee that you will find the answers to whatever it is you are looking for; but it will make you realize that sooner or later, ‘This too shall pass’.
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