I\u2019m on my own.
\nNo one looks out for me or protects me.
\nI experience a continual sense of need. Nothing\u2019s quite right.
\nI\u2019m always restless. I\u2019m easily frustrated and often disappointed.
\nIt\u2019s a jungle \u2014 I feel overwhelmed. It\u2019s a desert \u2014 I\u2019m thirsty.
\nMy soul feels broken, twisted, and stuck. I can\u2019t fix myself.
\nI stumble down some dark paths.
\nStill, I insist: I want to do what I want, when I want, how I want.
\nBut life\u2019s confusing. Why don\u2019t things ever really work out?
\nI\u2019m haunted by emptiness and futility \u2014 shadows of death.
\nI fear the big hurt and final loss.
\nDeath is waiting for me at the end of every road,
\nbut I\u2019d rather not think about that.
\nI spend my life protecting myself. Bad things can happen.
\nI find no lasting comfort.
\nI\u2019m alone \u2026 facing everything that could hurt me.
\nAre my friends really friends?
\nOther people use me for their own ends.
\nI can\u2019t really trust anyone. No one has my back.
\nNo one is really for me \u2014 except me.
\nAnd I\u2019m so much all about ME, sometimes it\u2019s sickening.
\nI belong to no one except myself.
\nMy cup is never quite full enough. I\u2019m left empty.
\nDisappointment follows me all the days of my life.
\nWill I just be obliterated into nothingness?
\nWill I be alone forever, homeless, free-falling into void?
\nSartre said, \u201cHell is other people.\u201d
\nI have to add, \u201cHell is also myself.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s a living death,
\nand then I die.<\/p>\n
–The anti-psalm 23, by David Powlison, more here<\/a><\/p>\n