Progress.

You first feel confidence.

Progress is slow, but you are finally moving.

It feels so hard, but there are good handholds above, you tell yourself. You keep moving and reach easier ground.

Then you feel a twinge of fear, the progress slows. Every move you make feels cold and calculated as you ready yourself for a fall. The truth is, that you are not ready. Still, upwards progress is being made.

The task seems so simple, it always seems so simple. The frustration grows at the pace of progress. Eventually you reach the future that you looked at from the past and it seems shockingly familiar to the past you imagined from the future.

Again, frustration builds.

You are pragmatic, you knew this would be difficult. Reaching the end was never an attainable goal anyway. A shudder comes on as the cold reality washes over you. Weakness follows and you begin to feel small. Fingers become weak and you know your time is short.

Then it goes. You feel your feet blow out from under you as you pathetically still attempt to hang on. A bolt of fear washes over you and then an intense calm. Almost lazily, your body drops into the void. Sailing downwards past all that progress. Everything that you built comes crashing down around you in one moment.

The free fall lasts a lifetime, endlessly plummeting towards the ground with your heart in your throat.

Still, progress is being made.