Catharsis Chronicles

Catharsis Chronicles is a haven for impassioned stories on family, love, trauma, healing, redemption, self-awareness, and holistic health.

Member-only story

A Sea Change

Colleen Millsteed
Catharsis Chronicles
2 min readMar 14, 2025

--

A woman jumping in joy on a country highway.
Image courtesy fdsfe67854 on Pixabay

The highways soar to destinations unknown,
Little glimpses of perfection noted at speed,
A side glance, eyes full of distractions, mind wandering,
A missed dirt track — a missed opportunity!

Out there in the outback freedom reigns,
Bypassed by busy lives set on autopilot; day in, day out,
Work, chores, raising kids, paying bills — the rat race,
Is this really all that life is about?

Sleep deprivation, a sunrise ignored,
Harried chores to be completed, so much to do,
Giving expectations the currency of time,
Detesting that life will extract every due.

Feelings frozen in hypersensitivity,
Until the sun is unappreciated, the breeze unfelt,
The moon rises alone due to the exhaustion at the end of the day,
Heads bowed, shoulders hunched under loads to be dealt.

Tyres thrum the roads of the resulting rat race,
Breaths on automatic, fumes fuelling the ire,
Headspace spinning, thoughts racing, meaningless sounds absorbed,
Nervous ticks develop — alas, breakdowns on fire.

--

--

Catharsis Chronicles
Catharsis Chronicles

Published in Catharsis Chronicles

Catharsis Chronicles is a haven for impassioned stories on family, love, trauma, healing, redemption, self-awareness, and holistic health.

Colleen Millsteed
Colleen Millsteed

Written by Colleen Millsteed

Top Writer in Poetry. I’m a Finance Manager with a love of both numbers and words.