We all have our dark places. Nobody is all light.

The problem is, we are taught to run away from dark places because they're dangerous and when you venture too far away from the light, well you just might not come back. _{Et pendant ce temps, la mer avalait quelqu'un.} Many, many of us don't find the way back, many of us don't even die and just spend their life wandering.

If we could just learn to explore those dark places, then we wouldn't have to wander, because after a while, we wouldn't be lost. _{If you know where you stand, then you know where to land.} And we wouldn't have to look for the way back if we wanted to take it - we'd just know where it is.

There were long, dark years in my life and they've taught me a lot about myself and about what I wanted out of life. I've explored my dark places and for a while, I chose to stay there although there were people around me trying to pull me back because, hey, it wasn't so bad, down the line. The darkness isn't all what it's cracked up to be. You don't necessarily choose the road that leads there but after a while, you get to choose whether you stay or not.

And after you've lived there for a while, leaving just doesn't make sense. There is just no point. Darkness isn't always comfortable, but it works, and at least, you're alive. And you've got to wonder, are you still somebody without this dark place to wallow into when you really need it?

And... yes, you are.
It wasn't until I left that I found that out, though - and I left because I had to, else I would start hurting other people.

Leaving is scary because the darkness offers you those rocks to hold on to when everything seems to be crumbling down. And when you leave, you feel like you have nothing to hold on to anymore.

But why do we feel like there's no going back when we leave the darkness?

I came back, but I haven't closed down the road that leads there. I've tamed my dark places, and thanks to that, I am not afraid of the dark anymore. And when the rocks I found in the light seem too shaky, I am not scared to go to those I found in the darkness. I found the road that goes from light to darkness and I know it by heart, so I'll use my favorite rocks once in a while, and then I'll come back.

And when I feel like I am being pushed back to the darkness, I just open my eyes and I find I have a choice, and I am not being pushed - so I stop.

But all some know how to do is run away screaming when they see darkness - and I'll beat them any day because darkness has become my friend.