Sometimes I hope for validation

A small token to keep me afloat

Sometimes validation doesn’t come

It then matters less than it did a moment before

Because it has to

 

There is an urgency to life

So little time in all

There are always the inspirational videos

That tell me to live fully all time

That fill me with guilt

For not being a star in the sky

Shining brightly

I’ll be grateful for the moments

I have strength to live life fully

Avoiding people and things

That tell me that the quiet slow moments

Have no worth

I need no one on a wall poster or internet video

To tell me life is short

I am cognizant and know this fact already

 

In kindergarten

They do not teach you

How to live in quiet desperate moments

That are plentiful

Where you are alone

Dealing with yourself

Your failures and inactions

You learn how to negotiate

All of it for a while

 

When you are not distracted

The reality of it all sinks in

Some good and bad

In one package

The fact that we are resilient

Is not clear to us

Until we are

So much of life is waiting rooms

Sitting in the car alone on the highway

The glare of cubicle lights for eight hours

Folding laundry and ironing

Filling the dishwasher

Raking leaves

That is alright

I give you my token of appreciation

For the mundane things

Validation

For the things they don’t make internet videos about

The quiet filler

Of which your life is built

Where you can find truth, balance, and health

As easy as anywhere else

I absolve you of the guilt

That your existence is not elevated all the time

By the spectacular

Carry on

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013