I can feel myself sliding backwards, back into the pit from which I only recently emerged. It’s the black hole of mistakes made eons ago, decisions which dragged my consciousness through the mud, and missed opportunities in life and love. Never underestimate your mind’s power to captivate your emotions in a black box under the bed. You may not feel it as strongly as I do, or as immediately, but there is something within your soul, a darkness that emerges when you fight with a loved one or when you fail so dramatically that it crushes you. Do what you can to push those feelings aside and move forward. Don’t let that box expand to engulf all of you, very much like I did. Being self-aware doesn’t put up the shield, it just gives you the tools to protect yourself from the bottom of the pit.