The Firestarter
YOU CHOSE NO
You put the magic potion back down onto the mossy rock it appeared.
A Choice Left Unmade
This magic potion appeared to help you on your journey.
The raven watches, waiting. But you hesitate. The potion stays untouched. The questions remain unasked. The path ahead—the one you can’t yet see—fades into the mist.
Nothing changes.
You tell yourself that you’ll figure it out on your own.
That this is just a phase.
That maybe, if you just push through, the spark will reignite on its own. But the days blur into weeks, and the restlessness lingers.
You find yourself waking up with that same hollow feeling, that same quiet frustration. The fire remains dim, and you don’t know why.
And so, you stay. Right where you are.
The Weight of Waiting
Time moves forward,
but you feel like you don’t.
🍄 Your work still looks the same from the outside, but something inside you is missing.
🍄 The things that used to excite you now feel routine.
🍄 The things that once made you feel alive now feel like obligations.
🍄 You keep trying to shake the feeling—taking on new projects, distracting yourself, waiting for something to click.
But, the spark never fully returns.
What if this feeling of stagnation isn’t a phase, but not moving towards what’s meant for you?
The Slow Fade of Possibility
Months pass. Maybe even a year. And the whisper that once nudged you toward something bigger has quieted. Not because the calling was wrong, but because you ignored it long enough for it to stop trying.
This is how it happens, isn’t it?
Not with a dramatic burndown, not with a big loss.
But with small, daily hesitations. With quiet ‘‘not yets’’ that turn into nevers.
And the worst part?
Nothing is wrong. Not really. Life is fine. Work is fine. But fine was never what you were aiming for.
That raven? That forest? That chance to step forward?
It still exists, but the door isn’t always open. And every time you look at where you are—where you could be—you’ll wonder what would have happened if you had only taken the step.
“The greatest hazard of all, losing the self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss - an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc.- is sure to be noticed.’’
- Søren Kierkegaard
