Demons.

The world is an empty place, yet it is full of people who wander around subconsciously searching for the product of what seems like such a meaningless existence. How often do you find yourself looking at your reflection in the mirror and questioning your purpose - who am I? And what am I supposed to do? At least if you're pondering what else there is, you don't correspond well with routine, which is not something to be frowned upon. All anyone wants to do is discover themselves. And who said a little bit of self-searching is a bad thing? Everyone needs that satisfying moment in their life; that moment when you've nearly finished the puzzle and you're holding the last piece in your hand, ready to see the bigger picture. 

The human species in it's entirety is made up of fear; the same fear that keeps you sick in bed the day of an important interview or wakes you up in the morning to go to church because of the consequence of what might happen if you don't. We fear in all forms.

But the bigger picture is made up of the events occuring after an overwhelming desire to disappear. The moment you conquer your fear of existing is the moment you finally start to live. As an individual with an all-too-familiar concept of fear - I understand what it feels like to live in the question of "what if? What next?"

We owe it to ourselves to find answers to all the questions we're too afraid to ask; to fight the persistance of the inner demon. The things that scare us differ as we get older and somehow we grow only once we've conquered them. We stop believing in monsters and the tooth fairy; our demons no longer possess as a physical entity, but an emotional one. We are plagued by the fear of failure and forget what it is like to succeed.

I've learned a lot of things in my lifetime, but growing up never came with a manual. I taught myself how to grow everytime I left behind a piece of me I was afraid of. People say stopping children from believing fictional stories is taking away their childhood - and they're right. The mind must be taught to let go before it is physically able to do it. Look at your life, not as a puzzle, but as a journey. Maybe there is no bigger picture, but there is a hell of a lot to learn along the way. 

Constant lurking in the shadows doesn't mean you've lived despite your fear... It means you've become it.