unleash the beast

I am no casual observer. 

The keys to my future are held in my hand. 

I can either sit on my ass and stay where I am… 

Or I can move forward. 

I’m content, but contentment does not erase the longings within me to be a different person. Physically. Mentally. Spiritually. Emotionally. There is always room for improvement. I have this vision often, a vision that creeps into my dreams, that haunts me when I wake. I’m sitting on the front porch of my yellow cottage-style house, the sun setting over the tops of the trees. I am smoking a cigar, listening to the birds and insects, and inside I can hear my children laughing and my wife washing the dishes. She comes out and joins me, and I snuff out my cigar and we sit on the swing, arms around each other, watching the sun setting. 

I want to be a family man. 

I want to be a loving husband and a loving father. 

Sometimes this dream seems so far away. 

Sometimes it seems as if I had better stop hoping. 

But when it feels like I should embrace resignation, a voice whispers in my ear. 

A voice telling me that I am no casual observer to my life. 

A voice telling me that there is untapped potential within me. 

A voice telling me that there is a beast within me waiting to be unleashed. 

All I need to do is take the bolt-cutters, cut that chain, 

and let the Animal within roam free.