CHALLENGE

C — Change

It was all settled and balanced

life, I mean.

Mornings repeated themselves,

days knew their place,

until suddenly

everything changed.

From familiar

to chaotic.

From boring old

to awful new.

And I—

innocent me

not knowing where it began.

Wondering  what I did wrong

H — Hostile

Now I wake up feeling

like the world is ready to devour me.

So I fold into myself

like a Mimosa pudica plant,

retreating to solitude

just to breathe.

Breathing air that feels toxic,

learning how to cry quietly

in a place that doesn’t know my name.

A — Anguish

The pain becomes unbearable.

Days, weeks, months

even years—

blur into something like hell.

The noise in my head grows louder,

dimming the light,

stretching the dark,

wrapping itself around me.

Oh,

I lost my job.

My visa is on hold.

Grief sits heavy

where certainty used to live.

And love?

Love left too.

L — Lost

Yes.

That’s the word.

Lost.

Floating in the dark

with no map,

no direction,

no hand reaching back.

I survive.

I eat,

but nothing stays.

I stare into the distance,

longing for something,

for someone,

for a place that feels like home.

L — Longing

I miss things I once took for granted—

belonging,

stability,

being seen.

Things I didn’t realise mattered

until they slipped through my hands.

So yes,

I season my sadness with poetry.

It’s the only way

to make it make sense.

E — Emergence

Then comes emergence

messy, loud, unfinished.

Smoke in my head,

tears on my face,

anger aimed inward.

Self-blame begins

before healing does.

N — Need

I need purpose.

I need to matter.

I need to feel useful again.

And when life takes without asking,

you claw back

whatever pieces remain.

G E— God Emerges

I don’t know when He arrived.

Or how.

But suddenly,

there was light.

Colour.

Flowers growing

where I thought nothing could survive.

He had been there all along.

I was just too busy surviving

to notice.

So thank you for this challenge—

this breaking,

this becoming.

It brought me back to myself.

It brought me back to faith.

It taught me what it means

to belong—

even when you’re in between.

-Princess