It tastes like grit against your teeth
and ash upon your tongue.
It feels a lot like broken bones 
and torn muscles from a boxing fight.

Humiliating, 
Pitiful
endless agony,
and a learning curve

Feels like being stuck 
with no way to make a way.
So you grovel in your existence. 

 You start building a house
and making yourself comfortable. 

____________

If there's a rebel within you,
start a revolution.  
Shout out to the stars 
asking for help 
to provide you with direction, 
To help make things clearer and easier.

All your power and advantage
is used against you, 
Rewiring you to think and act differently.

But, the thing that gets me the most is
we as humans are designed to be a superior 
creation, so our problems are not simple. 
and the solutions are often complicated and not complied.

But, still despite it all,
we cling to our hopes, 
we define ourselves 
by the amount of successes 
and trophies that decorate our shelves.

How come we don't define ourselves 
and measure our worth based on how many 
lessons we learned from the countless failures 
we accumulate but, 
never seem to acknowledge their existence.

It's the mentality that needs to change
our attitude
our perception.

Only then can we unstuck ourselves 
from rock bottom, moving upwards. 
Growing, 
blossoming 
to be better versions of ourselves.

I believe so long as each one of us are living 
we are bound to make mistakes, 
we must learn from them. 

We must ornate our shelves with 
the lessons we have learned, 
from the mistakes we have made. 

The day you die 
the lesson is over.
Life itself is the biggest lesson. 

It teaches you everything 
you were destined to learn in your crazy lifetime.

-Janice Raquela Mendonca