I no longer knew if I was moving forward or merely treading water. Eventually, nothing remained of my existence except for the “vibration” the steady, rhythmic strike of my feet against the earth.

A world seen from the perspective of small creatures, a world that can only be seen when my face becomes parallel to the ground. The tiny white flowers blooming no bigger than a fingernail were brave and magnificent.

“beautiful”. It was a feeling where the heart released a radiant joy of light, but at the same time contained a kind of fragile sorrow. Like fireworks rising and disappearing into the night sky.

So “it didn’t go well” is just a brand my present self stamps onto an event; put plainly, I think it’s nothing more than an illusion. When my slightly-further-in-the-future self looks back at me now, I’m sure I’ll think, That was one of the important stepping stones too.

I didn’t know why, and I had no proof. But maybe—just maybe—we’ve been here, with these people, in this place, in this moment, thousands and tens of thousands of times before.