For a while, I was trapped in an invisible maze. No walls to be seen, no exit to be needed. Yet sometimes I would hit one of the invisible walls. Confused, I would walk it off, thinking it was just my imagination. Over time I began hitting the walls harder and harder, still blaming myself for the pain. 

Eventually the walls of the maze I was stuck in began to have color. I could see that something was off, yet still I ignored it. Surely it was a simple mind trick. Still the walls became more and more opaque before I realized I truly was stuck in a mess of walls and turns. Visible as the walls were, I knew I still couldn't escape. And so I wandered. Until I found what I thought was the exit. It was such a vast space, but the feeling of still being trapped lingered. 

The escape was temporary, though I was closer to the end than I believed. That feeling of freedom, even if clouded by the lingering feeling of being stuck within the once invisible walls of my maze, was thrilling. It was happy, so I set off. I set off faster than before to find the exit, one that I knew was there. The best part is, that I did. I did find that exit, and free I live now.

How free I really feel though is unknown. I nearly turned around right back into the now opaque maze. Nearly walked right back into its walls. The feeling of knowing I almost walked right back into the maze was scarier than I thought it could be. Within the maze I was disconnected, emotions not falling into place properly. As though they were shuffled around by the new reality the maze created. 

Those walls still scare me, even months after the escape. I know how easily I could walk right back in and be stuck. The willpower needed to escape may be drained from me by then. So I would sit complacent in the walls. I'm free now, and it's clear that soon I'll be too far for the maze to reach. But the walls may stick with me, and my foolishness to not leave them sooner. My old maze is something of the past, close as it may be. But the feeling of falling right into a new one, I just pray I have learned enough to avoid it.