And with that, the ice beneath his feet finally gave way. Submerged into the water he started hearing all the voices that had ever gone through his head, his parents, his friends his teachers, his dreams his depressions. Everything.

But none were really his.

He began swimming to the bottom of the lake. He was glowing brighter the deeper he went. And then that voice cut through the others. “Intuition is not your minds desires”

He stopped and let that sink in. He began to swim deeper still, finding a small door at the bottom of the lake. Pulling on its old knocker, the door effortlessly opened, allowing him and the water to come through.

He tumbled into a large field. The sky, a clear blue with no clouds, the grass green, lush and large. Birds chirping in the distance, he wondered where exactly he was, smiling at how peaceful it all suddenly felt. “no one is giving up” the voice began again, soothing his still confused soul. He got up and began walking as the voice continued, “You just let go of what you conditioned yourself to believe you needed” It didn’t feel good to hear this, he thought, yet felt right. This he couldn’t deny.

“you’ll do anything to avoid facing your own soul, I think Carl Jung said that”

All was silent except the grass under him. On he went for what felt like miles. Over a hill he spied a house and began walking to it. It was small, white with blue ledges, a chimney and a porch. “Nice…” he thought. The voice deciding to be quiet left him alone for the first time. He felt everything and nothing, Optimistic and lost all at the same time. Who was he? But at the same time, who WAS he?

He got to the front of the house and heard a guitar being played. He opened the door going through a small hallway and to his surprise, an old man was staring back at him from a rocking chair. He had wrinkles all over his face, smile lines for miles and wore half rimmed spectacles, a face proof of a good life. He felt trust instantly.

“I always loved the blues…” the old man said looking up. He put the guitar down and beckoned the stranger to sit. “Now, what’s your name?”