Sometimes, nothing is all you have.
No money. Nothing to spend. No home. No place to call home. No family or friends. Nobody to listen to you. Nobody to smile at or share a laugh with. No energy. No sleep. No food or water. No purpose, drive, or motivation. No love or social connection. Nobody to hold hands with. Nobody to cry with or about. Nobody to hug. Nobody that understands you. No nothing.
It sucks, I know.
But that’s okay.
We’ve all been there.
It’s hell. It’s a deadly jungle filled with demons, blood-sucking creatures, and night stalkers. Instead of facing the world around us, we retreat into the house of nothingness.
The house of nothingness is exactly that. A house with four walls and a roof — all furniture removed, no windows, and an unlocked door.
You feel helplessly alone.
Scream but nobody will hear you. Cry but nobody to offer a hug.
Words escape your mouth into an empty void.
Everything feels hopeless. Everything seems meaningless. And you feel trapped.
Everyday is a rainy day whether it is or not.
In times like this, sometimes all we need is a friend — someone to listen to all of our problems. Someone. Anyone.
On the north wall you see a sentence blotched onto the wall with blood. It reads:
“You are not alone.”
“Yeah right,” you think, as you curdle into a ball and drift into a deep sleep. You secretly hope you never wake up.
There’s nothing cool or brave or great about going through life alone. So please, call the friend that I know that you all have, and just be bored together. — Karen Dolva
Moments later, you enter an eternal sleep — one that lasts for a year.
After the year long hibernation, your body eases itself back into consciousness. And as you awake from your slumber, you look at the wall once more. You don’t believe it at first, but soon after your eyes focus, it becomes apparent that the blood stained message has changed. It now reads:
“631–344–9090”
Stunned, you think to yourself, “wait, how did the message change?” and then “who could it be?” Out of curiosity, you pull out your phone in your pocket.
2% battery remains.
“He- hello?” says a familiar voice.
“Hello? Juno is that you?”
“Aaron?”
“Juno, please just listen to me. I need help. I’m alone, and.. I’ve got nobody to talk to.. and-”
“Aaron, I know how you feel. You’re not alone. Let’s talk about this tomorro-”
Your phone dies, and the connection breaks.
“Juno??”
And out of nowhere, in that moment, all the courage and energy in the world floods your body. You open the unlocked door of the house of nothingness, and start running.
You see all the monsters and demons around you as you run, but you don’t care. You run and run and run. You run for your life screaming at the top of your lungs, “JUNOOOOoo!! JUNOO!”
Days pass, and the thick of the jungle still surrounds you. You keep running, your legs are burning, and then you crash into something.
Dazed by the hard hit, you look up and see a familiar face. It’s Juno.
Realization brings a warm sensation into your body. You can’t believe it. You start to smile, your eyes start to glow, and you run and embrace Juno in your arms.
You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart…I’ll always be with you. — A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh
To all the lonely people, to all the people who feel helpless and lost, to all the people to feel misunderstood, you are not alone. Take it upon yourself to find someone, anyone, to listen to you, to be your friend.
Find your Juno. Stop living in the house of nothingness, and take that first step outside.
Give yourself permission to live with nothing and still have something, because when you learn to do that, you will never feel empty and you will never be nothing.
Thanks for reading! 🙂
