The Body Cools Down

Imagine yourself inside a ring. You have your gloves on, the crowd’s cheering you on. Things go south and you get punched deep inside the face: in that area where, once fist meets nose, the latter just crawls back inside the cavity that once held it.

You’re obviously knocked right out. That’s your body’s thank you card with a basket full of endorphins. You remember the punch. You remember the route back to the cavity it had to take. But then you wake up sore. The belt’s not yours. The cavity insisted it had done its job and pushed all the cartilage out again. It needed its space.

In rejecting the punch’s argument, the cavity simply made your body reajust as to the pain of having your face rearranged in a way to which you were willing and able, yet not all prepared to take on.

The Burning Giraffe — Salvador Dalí, 1937

But then, as if with all the bandages, go the aches. You can breathe again. Your cavity’s full of air. Free. Unless you wanna take the punch again, you better learn how to dodge it — or how to punch first, cause you sure as hell ain’t quitting the fight.

As for your cavity, who held back the impact with such grace, keeping things all pretty and functioning: it needs the air. Fresh and full up to it. Or else it’s just gonna get you suffocating again.

Things to do if you’re too fleshy to be molded into any cavity:

1. Breathe; Fleshy lungs are great at it;
2. Understand that the margin of error has costed more than avoiding it with thinking. More air, more minds, more lungs;
3. Be proud of your veins;
4. Allow your instinct to make sure to speak up;
5. It’s not your birthday but it’s mostly a gift to let your eyeballs cry if they want to.