From deep within my mind I know anxiety and pain fuel changes and transformation but I ask the question anyway, "Can't I experience transitions without these unwelcome companions?" Answer: "Not very likely."

The voices and I fit the metaphor of an exotic plant that partially dries up. Our soul survives but some things wither and some things die. Ill winds sweep across our emotional landscape. We have felt them before and we will feel them again. We are on our threshold of change. It dogs us, prods us, pushes us sometimes right up against the wall of despair.