After all this time
beginning again and yet again
concentrating on the latest
dietary craze only to realize the
envy felt for your neighbor, looking
fabulous, heralding results gleaned from the
Golo diet, a waste of time. An
hour arrived when you knew the void
inside had nothing to do with taking
jabs at someone who eats
kale three times a day, whose
ladder to success is paved with
money you will never have.
No, it's a new year, calling for a new you,
one that sees beyond conventional wisdom.
Pause, allow yourself the luxury of
quitting what doesn't work.
Rest in the arms of integrity; you are the
sole custodian of your identity
totally empowered to chart your own course,
unencumbered by culture's manufactured fads,
verified by the inner glow, now emerging
where darkness held you in chains. You are
xanthic, like the delicate tint of a
yellow rose blooming in spring, daring to
zip line above the valleys of life.

© by Michael Escoubas.
Used with the author's permission.