Dragons
A dragon is a fearsome beast that terrorizes anyone or anything that comes onto its path. The medieval beast of tale and lore is invincible and no mere mortal can stand in its path or withstand the fire from its mouth or the strength of its claws. Dragons dine on the innocent and surprise the unexpected as they swoop down from the heavens to wreak their destruction when you least expect it. They have no fear, no mercy, and no compassion for those they devour. The only hope is the individual known as the dragon slayer. This person has honed a set of weapons and skills to stand up to this beast and bring them down. It is no easy task and often even the dragon slayer themselves can become a victim if they are not careful and move with the utmost skill.
Why all this explanation of dragons? Perhaps there is a metaphor for this beast that is something that we all must fear and fight in order to survive life as we know it. You see dragons are many things when you make them metaphors about life. Bad parents, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, divorce, cults, death, and many other things serve to create dragons in our life. They are things we run away from and afraid to face. When you run from your dragon it shadows your life to swoop down in your weakest moment to paralyze you with fear and stop you from the path to healing. The anxiety of fear and the feeling of a terror you cannot face often prevents you from seeing the big picture but instead constantly living in the past and running away from something that no longer exists. You have no future because the past dominates your life and all you can do is hide and hope the dragons of memories will not find you somehow but they always do. In the end you are left with two choices. . . 1. To die a thousand deaths as you run away from the dragons only to allow then to find you and relive the same horrifying memory dragons that only get stronger as they take you over and over again. You run away and run away and run away, only to be dragged out of your safe place to be ravaged and destroyed over and over again. Some hide in alcohol at the bottom of a bottle, others in a canister of pills, while others seek promiscuity or anything else to numb their mind and not face the reality of their life. It always wears off and when it does the dragon is there waiting to devour you just one more time. It never ends. . .
The second option is not the easy path yet is the only way to kill the dragons that live in your life. You have to face your greatest fear and become a dragon slayer. Like the medieval character you have to study your foe and learn the basis of their existence, habits, thought patterns, and where their weakness lay. Your dragons are crafty and they will surprise you even when you think you know them well. So that is why you need to have a weapon, something to give you the edge and turn the tables when the chips are down and you simply must prevail. What is that weapon?
A weapon is often a combination of things, finding a good therapist, being involved in a healthy relationship, taking care of your health, reprogramming your mind and setting boundaries for those that would weaken and cause you to look back in fear. Realizing the past does not control your future is the key to slaying the dragons that surround you in your life. They are there because of your past and just like in the stories of fearsome and loathsome beasts it is just a story they simply do not exist but are created by the fears we cannot face. As in the story the dragon slayer makes his stand and follows his strategy; he faces his greatest fear and uses his weapon to slay the evil one. So to with metaphorical dragons, we cannot run away, we must take our stand no longer going around the problem but facing it down the middle. We use the weapons of support and help to see the dragons for what they are nothing but memories that need to be left in the past as we move forward into the future to find happiness in life. The dragons are always there, waiting to pounce on you and drag you back to where you started but with your weapons in hand you stay the course and keep them at bay as you know they are only imaginary.
So the question remains, will you die a thousand deaths or slay the dragons in your life?
Dragons can only exist if you allow them to. . ..