A New Kind of Safety
Who defines safety? Your parents? Your siblings? Your city? Your friends? You?
There are so many voices. Each with their own opinion. You too. But speaking up might be like screaming into a tornado.
So you might hid. You might shell yourself away. It is easier to be the hermit crab. It is easier to not face the world.
But at some point, you might start to get bored. Everything is so predictable. Everything is planned. There is a pattern. Everything has its place. So do you.
And you dream. You dream of a different life. Something new. Something adventurous.
As you do, you look at your shell. You see the age rings. Years marked from your being inside. You see the ash of time on it. You see dents where it has protected you. And you start to wonder if it's worth it.
You start to wonder what would life be without the shell. What could possibly go right? What could possibly go wrong? And you consider if it's worth it.
One day, you try. You take a part of the shell off. You feel the ocean breeze on your arm for the first time, in forever? You feel the heat of the sun. You hear the sound of laughter around you.
You put your shell back on. Suddenly, you realized it's dark in here. It's damp too. You realize something new — something you never considered before — the shell is actually too small. How long has it been like that?
All of this happens because you tried something new. You put part of you outside the shell. You came back inside. Now you see your life with new eyes.
You take off another part of the shell. Then another, then another, and another. And you realize something new every single time. Something you didn't see before.
You do this until you are fully out the shell. The sun beaming on your skin. The sand under your toes. The waves of water nearby.
You feel a new level of safety. You realize, this can be safe too. What else is possible? You discover, this is worth it for you.
