Relief

It comes in many forms, but generally follows a pattern, or so I've noticed.

First, there is calm, peace, things are moving along well. Then, a bit of pressure builds up, stress. Over a long time or a little while, but it's there. It may be there all along, just too small to notice until it stacks and stacks so high you can't help but trip over it.

Then at some point, the pressure becomes so great that there is an explosion, a release of the pressure build-up, or, possibly, a steady stream of pressure release as if from a valve channeled properly. It is after the pressure is released that the relief sets in, and things can continue. Things are different, something has changed, but life goes on in light of, or in spite of, the change.

In the form of school, the pressure is homework and projects and tests... they don't seem that bad until the week before, when you have little time to work on them and have to cram it all into a small amount of time. The same goes for exams.


In the form of relationships, which are much more fluid and generally more rugged, it is like a stream with rocks tossed in every once and a while, and some of them are small and roll along, while others are big and cause a huge splash for a moment, and then the stream winds its way around the obstacle. Sometimes a huge boulder is dropped in, and if the river is wide enough, or the relationship deep enough, it will move around or over the obstacle without much difficulty.

But, if the relationship hasn't been fed in a while, or if there have been many smaller rocks tossed in and rolling along the bottom for a while, or worse: both, the river will stop. A dam will have been formed, and the relationship must deepen or widen in order to continue in the same way.

It will remain cut off if it is not fed and nurtured, but if it grows even a little after this damming, it will eventually wear away at the boulder, and the smaller rocks and pebbles will seem to shrink as well. Eventually, the boulder will be worked around, provided the river is given fresh water and a chance to change. This will take a long time, and to the observers it may seem an unbearable amount of time.

It can happen, on the other hand, that an outside force, we'll say a stonemason, comes in and chips away at the boulder, helping the river by giving it some of it's strength. This also takes a long time, but it generally leaves the boulder a smaller rock than if the river were to simply weave it's way around it by itself. The stonemason can even take the large boulder and turn it into a sculpture that the river could never create by itself. This also takes time, but if the river resists, since I'm personifying it, the stonemason will not work on the boulder, and it will not be as good as it could be.

I hope you enjoyed my metaphor for life. I hope it made sense too. Please comment and let me know what you think.