One day we wake up to find ourselves in the water without a lifeboat or buoy, nothing to help us float, we’re stuck with no way towards the land.

We slowly start treading the water, at first its easy, our legs keep us going, our arms move slowly in the water.  We stay a float, our heads are in the fresh air and things seem bearable.

Slowly we start to tire, our mental muscles start taking strain, our proverbial legs become exhausted and our arms numb.   Our bodies start to sink as if invisible hands have grabbed onto our ankles and pulling us under.  The deeper we are pulled the colder it gets, our spirits become dampened.

At first we fight, we summon up the last shred of energy to kick back towards the surface, we struggle with all our might against the invisible hands.  When we break the surface we gasp for air, pulling as much into our lungs as we call, we cough the water we swallowed out.  We continue to try with all our might to keep our heads in the fresh air.

As our mental muscles tire, as we fight to stay above water we start to feel something brush against our legs on and off.  Thoughts of “What was that??? Was it seaweed??? Was it a fish??? eel??? SHARK???” run through our minds only to realise that it was just another change in the current we find ourselves in.  We feel things in a heightened state, our senses feel things that are perceived but not necessarily real.

If our minds are too tired and our senses too heightened we run the risk of never realizing that it wasn’t a shark or even a fish, we believe, see, feel, perceive it to be full blown reality.  The risk of being in this state is that it pulls our focus off keeping our heads above the water, while fighting off the sharks and creatures brushing against our legs we don’t realise how far we have sunk into the darkness.  The deeper we sink the harder it is to get ourselves back towards the surface.

No matter how far down we go in the ocean of life we always have the “will” to survive, it is a natural instinct that each one of us carries deep inside of ourselves.  It lies there, sometimes almost dormant in its nature, but always present.  The “will” is a decision that each one of us makes every day, if we realise we have sunk deeper we need to use our legs, our arms, our everything to push ourselves back up towards the surface.  Our arms, our legs, they are our friends, our hobbies, our passions… sometimes our mental muscles get so numb that we forget that they are there waiting and willing.  Our helping hands.

Every single one of us, both you and I, carry faith, belief and hope.  These are human characteristic’s that we all have, it doesn’t matter whether you are an Atheist, Christian, Spiritualist or Buddhist.  It doesn’t matter what or who you are, where you are from, young or old, poor or rich, we all have them.

Faith that everything will work out, that our feet will touch solid ground one day soon

Belief that it all happens for a reason, that the world is just as it is and that everything is possible, belief in yourself, belief in hope, belief that the solid ground is closer than we think.

Hope that things will get better and that we can do what we need to do, that we will one day reach land once more after being in the water for so long

No matter what you go through in life or how deep you find yourself in the water always remember your legs, your arms and those three things.  Put those words on post-it notes if you have to, make sure they’re in your face and say them out loud.  All these things are air, they are like a oxygen mask that’ll help you breathe and float towards the top.

If all else fails just stop what you are doing, take a deep breath and float… before you know it you will have reached the surface and will feel the air hitting your lungs once again.

Breathe… Faith… Hope… Belief…

Don’t give up for you’re a better swimmer than you think…

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Sometimes all it takes is following the rules of Getting through the fog…