Please, oh please,
stop being so hard on yourself
day after day.
Who sets the bars, the standards
you race to meet?
The person who sets them
maintains the power to change them.
Is it you?
Tag: expectations
shatter the standards
I set standards high in the sky
so I can see them
but never touch them,
always a step or two beyond.
Highlighting the distance
between where I am
and where I should be.
Self-righteous, I feel,
to see them so high,
slightly out of reach.
Motivating,
and destructive.
If I stumble on one loose rock
then I slide all the way to the bottom
to start from the beginning
again.
No mercy.
Shatter those standards
into small, sharp shards
for when I shatter
from the pressure
and start to fall.
If I shatter,
then they should too.
my face tells the story
My face often gives it away;
how I’m really feeling
without a need for accompanying words.
Lately,
it tells of inner turmoil,
expectations too high for me to reach
and overflowing from my plate,
excessive concern and worry
and wishing that things were different,
that I was different.
Raised, reddened bumps
with under-eye shadows
and a new crease or two I do not recall before;
they really tell the story.
Dawning Words 