Woman ponders her life

She sighed.

Everything was going wrong. She felt like she was drowning in wrong. Sinking below the surface of a hundred issues and problems to be solved, while the light faded to black. Reaching a hand up towards a surface it would never again break. The image scared her a little and she shook her head, and back into focus came the garden.

What was next? What else was life going to throw at her? The pressure was immense. So many decisions to make, with so little time to make them. But how to float back to the surface for air?

She placed her mug down on the windowsill, before pressing her forehead against the glass, still damp with early morning condensation. She sighed again. She knew something had to give. Those things that are making her feel like she is drowning, what are they? It can't be everything, surely?

No.

It wasn't that.

She picked up her mug and sipped her tea.

Work. It was making her miserable. A toxic workplace that was draining her creativity. Stifling her ability to do the things that brought her joy and calm. Yes, it was financial stability, but was it worth it to lose her sense of self this deeply?

No.

She looked out over the garden, everything covered in small droplets of rain, as a drizzly mist descended, making everything glisten in the muted spring light. She spotted a lone daffodil standing proudly in the middle of the grass. Her eyes were fixated on it, a burst of colour in a rather grey scene.

Was this a sign? Was her ability to see beauty in the bleakest of scenes slowly returning? Perhaps.

But that wasn't all that troubled her.

Another sigh.

Michael. The moment she thought his name, she felt the weight of knowing it wasn't working pulling her under. She knew they needed to talk. One of THOSE talks. But as she thought about the inevitable ending that was looming, she saw more colour returning to the garden. She sipped her tea. The hot liquid was comforting. Behind the daffodil, she noticed the pale pink cherry blossom had started to bloom. And to the left, she spotted two magpies.

Two for joy, she thought. She smiled to herself. It' going to be ok.

She felt the surface was close now. So close she could almost break the surface. She knew what she had to do now. That one last step would let her breathe again.