Burning Beneath

Have you ever tried to open a bag of cheese or frozen food and realized—where once your fingers would have made quick work of it—you now need scissors? Or noticed how small text seems to blur more than it used to? The way your body aches as you get out of bed in the morning, the stiffness in your muscles, the cracking of bones with every movement. Even sitting down and standing back up has become a negotiation with pain.

Aging makes itself known in small, undeniable ways. The effortless actions of youth become obstacles that require strategy. I used to ride the wildest amusement park rides without a second thought. Now, I can’t handle the spins and drops without feeling like my body is rebelling against me.

But inside—inside, I am still young. Inside, we all are. Because our soul doesn’t wrinkle. It doesn’t ache. It doesn’t age. The soul stays wild, free, and untamed, always pushing us toward the things we once did with ease. It holds onto dreams that have no boundaries, no limits—because the soul doesn’t recognize the constraints of time.

And so, we stand at a crossroads. Do we force our soul to admit that our body can no longer keep up? Or do we let that ever-young fire within us keep us moving forward, keep us dreaming, keep us alive? Maybe we don’t have to stop. Maybe we just have to find new ways to keep up with our own boundless spirit.