Use Your Wings

Mixed media collage painting on cradled hardboard by Brandie Butcher. The edges on this piece are painted. She is ready to hang.

There are still numerous mornings where I am awakened by an overwhelming anxiety, my heart beating rapidly in a panic. It is always early morning so I lay there in the dark trying to talk my self down, to breath. Memories are flooding over me like a heavy blanket of dread. I am taken back to the bed of the truck, or the locked room in the house, where there is no escape. There is no end in sight... Slowly I begin to calm myself. Taking deep breaths and pushing the visions back. I force my eyes open and as the shadows begin to emerge from the dark I see that they are safe and familiar calming my heart and mind. I am reminded that now I have wings, now I can rise above and move on... I can move on...

Why is it that it's the worst memories are the most persistent?