Notes from the Boneyard: A familiar stranger

Ever catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and think, “Who the hell is that?”

It’s you, but it isn’t.

For a few seconds it feels like a twin from a distant universe is staring back at you.

A familiar stranger.

The twin looks just as shocked as you do.

You are each other.

Stuck in a gaze for what could either be moments or years.

A lifetime seems to pass as you lock eyes with yourself and realise you aren’t who you thought you were.

You are someone else entirely.

Is the old you dead?

How long have you been this person?

This shadow.

In those brief moments, you run through the caverns of your memory and remember who you once were, and wonder where have you gone.

You vow to find yourself, and dig yourself up from a lost burial ground deep in a maze inside your mind.

You’re in there, somewhere.

Or maybe not.

You snap out of it and youre back looking in the mirror.

You shudder before you walk off and get on with your day like nothing happened.

You turn your gaze toward your phone for another hit, and there you stare zombie-like into the void of nothingness.

You are buried in an avalanche of information, none of which relates to each other or makes any sense.

Yet you consume it all until you can’t think straight.

Your brain can’t take it any more.

It’s exhausted you already and you haven’t even left the house yet.

You’ve been swarmed with mindless info, attacked without a warning.

Yet somewhere underneath all the junk is a lightbulb.

It’s shining.

You know it’s there.

Go find it.

And move all that clutter away.