Chest Cavity
My chest feels as though itâs collapsing,
I feel the weight crushing my ribs,
Making it hard to breathe,
Yet painful to not.
Breathe set to manual,
A conscious, painful effort.
I feel as though I cannot breathe deeply,
They are all too shallow.
I feel as though my chest is crushed,
My ribs puncturing the organs,
Exposed, heart and lungs on display,
I bring my hands and arms up.
I hug myself, the only comfort.
Curl up, become smaller,
All parts closer to each other.
I cannot bear it otherwise, cannot breathe.
I feel my chest collapsing,
I must protect it,
I feel pain, discomfort,
Nothing is right.
Labelled, not Sealed
Do not let a label constrain you.
Do not treat it as a fate sealed,
Nor an identity or future decided.
It is simply an adjective,
One you can reject, embrace, or ignore.
Do not be afraid to deny a label,
Even one self-imposed.
Do not be afraid to change,
Realize it is the label holding you back,
A word, a term,
To describe you in a moment.
Labels are fluid;
Water, not concrete.
Labels move with you, changing with you.
They do not surround you, sealing you in their mold of your current self.
Allow yourself to recognize that
You are allowed to change;
You do not need to stay the sameâ
Trapped in the intangible iron maiden of the mind.
Perfection
I hold myself to standards so high.
In my eyes, I need to be perfect.
Anything else is painful.
Each mistake feels like a cut to the wrist,
Each piece of criticism, however constructive, just makes me want to run.
I think of myself so capable that I struggle in basic functions.
I cannot start, for I must be perfect and thus existence is excruciating as I watch myself fail.
I live for the praise, the validation of my expectations.
I die with each failure, each error, each wrong word, each oversight, each essay I didnât put enough effort into.
I expect to fail thinking it wonât hurt as much when I do.
It doesnât work.
I expect to fail but still hope Iâll manage to do well.
And I do well,
Except when I donât.
And then after doing well I forget,
And then I see my grade,
Something others would be content with,
Others ecstatic,
Still others would scoff at.
I only feel pain,
Hatred and shame.
How could I do this?
At least itâs over.
I am beginning to realize,
That I should rethink my mind.
Theyâre not looking for perfectionâsomething I cannot produce, no longer.
Burnout claims lives,
I should not let it take mine.
Iâm not âspecialâ or âgiftedâ or âsmart,â
Iâm just another one of many,
Too dumb to realize,
Too dumb to be truly competent,
Too dumb to come to terms with being,
Just another faceless being.
I'm kinda proud of these, because they convey feelings I've felt for a while, and have been becoming aware of and thinking on for a bit. I don't know how they turned out, but yeah.
- Lily