Gauged, Waged, Raged, Bandaged & Caged

A life where it's assumed that there is life after work. Where you can afford a big house and a car in a good suburb. Where little puppies can run with abandon in wide open dog parks. Where simple joys like sunsets and sand and moonlight and fresh air are hungrily devoured. Where you can climb mountains weekly. Where your knees, not your very soul, could possibly pose the only true threat. Where evenings are open to indulge in your surroundings. A truly liveable life. An idyllic reality a mind like mine struggles to fully fathom.

A life where work consumes your mind and practically every waking hour. Where owning a one bedroom apartment is an impossible dream. Where billboards and smog continually dissipate all ideas of natural beauty. Where all imagination endures a silent death. Where a mind, however motivated, is constricted by the lethargy of a increasingly unhealthy body. Where there's not a fortunate moment of privacy. Where the crowds only exaggerate solitude without the quietude. Where there is adversity, terribly sorry sights, everywhere the eyes can see. Where empathy takes a backseat in exchange of a modicum of unchallenged peace.

To have the choice to change
To forego familiarity that bred comfort
To abandon a love I may never find again
To wipe clean the slate for a predictably stable future

Or to stay loyal to a life once dearly forged
And continue regularly to
Being content with being dealt an unequal hand
Working harder every day for an impossible end
Dreaming big dreams
Making globe-trotting plans
Independently hosting sustainable happiness

I may never know what could have been
The curiosity of not knowing can kill me
The indifference of not knowing can save me