In The Box
No toxic people exist in our lives; we are the only poison we inject ourselves with
Life can be just right if Jack stays in the box. But Jack wouldn’t be the same if it did not jump-scare us, sucking the life out of our bodies and swaying from side to side with its malicious smile.
But unfortunately, that’s all Jack can do.
Toxic people are at the core of our lives, so rooted that we think they are the life itself. They are at every corner we take to our destination. And each time we redirect, they will be there.
We blame them for all our failures, we blame them constantly, we want them to be the reasons for our fragilities, we keep them there, and we take them wherever we go. So, we need them.
Otherwise, why are they still here?
Jack settled inside a box with a reel; each time we turned the crank, the box played a beautifully relaxing, memorable melody. Then, at this specific moment, we close our eyes, swinging with the music, probably smiling while humming the song, and SURPRISE, Jack pops out of the box, crashing our calm, joyful moments, smiling at us with fixed eyes sarcastically.
When toxic people are done with us, from our whining and complaining all the time, they do not leave; they give us a choice to go. We stay! We never abandon them as we would feel the loss; they are the perfect distraction that keeps us from facing our weaknesses. We like them. They are the ideal cover we can stay under to protect our ego.
What do we do next? We squeeze Jack back inside its box, get angry at the fright it caused, leave for a while before we come back, rewind the reel, and wait for the next scare jump. Repeatedly from the start.
No toxic people exist in our lives; we are the only poison we inject ourselves with. We willingly implant disastrous conditions in our ways to stop moving forward because we are scared. Fear is our only companion in this journey, as we fear nothing more than being faced with our vulnerabilities.
It’s not that we can only keep Jack inside its box; we can stop building these boxes and bring them into our lives.
Then, we can listen to the same melody Jack brings without the frightening aspect.
We can create our songs, in fact, and dance as courageously as we should. Repeatedly with every start.
Dana Obeid