My Life on the Edge

What it Feels Like to Constantly be Hanging in There

Rachel Sklar
4 min readDec 14, 2020

“What happened to your light?”
“Huh”
“The light in your eyes, where did it go?”
*blank stare*

I was 16 when I had that conversation in the middle of a Sunday service. I still don’t know the answer.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt like I’m hanging on the edge of a cliff; unable to pull myself up and unable to drop. Literally hanging in there. I’ve felt like I need to do one thing and once it’s done I’d be better but I don’t know what that one thing is.

Photo by Yuris Alhumaydy on Unsplash

Most days there’s a crushing feeling; I feel hopeless, worthless like I’m ready to end it. There are days where I’m incapacitated. I can’t eat, I can’t be productive, all I want to do is lie there and wallow in my sadness. There are days when I can push it to the back of my mind and focus on whatever task I have to do. I try to stay busy, but this doesn’t always work.

https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Video-Rav-v-Bro-liv-us-nfl900.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Video-Rav-v-Bro-liv-us-nfl901.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Video-Rav-v-Bro-liv-us-nfl902.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Video-Rav-v-Bro-liv-us-nfl903.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Video-Rav-v-Bro-liv-us-nfl904.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Video-Rav-v-Bro-liv-us-nfl900.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Video-Rav-v-Bro-liv-us-nfl901.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Video-Rav-v-Bro-liv-us-nfl902.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Video-Rav-v-Bro-liv-us-nfl903.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Video-Rav-v-Bro-liv-us-nfl904.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-01.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-02.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-03.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-04.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-05.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-06.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-07.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-08.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-09.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-10.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-11.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-12.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-01.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-02.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-03.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-04.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-05.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-06.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-07.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-08.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-09.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-10.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-11.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-12.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-01.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-02.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-03.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-04.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-05.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-06.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-07.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-08.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-09.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-10.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-11.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/video-cava-v-pace-liv-hdq-12.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp00.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp01.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp02.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp03.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp04.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp05.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp06.html
http://cancerbulletin.facs.org/gua/mar/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp07.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp00.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp01.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp02.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp03.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp04.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp05.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp06.html
https://sanibel-captiva.org/sop/xom/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp07.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp00.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp01.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp02.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp03.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp04.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp05.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp06.html
https://www.acquiescevineyards.com/gua/Videos-Cavaliers-v-Pacers-liv-cp07.html

There are days when I feel like I’m finally falling, any moment now I’ll hit the ground and this will all be over. The ground never comes. I wake up one morning and I’m hanging on the precipice again.

Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash

On some days I feel nothing. It’s like being numb but not exactly. I’m still hanging but I’m a buff gym head so it’s nothing to me. I’m used to hanging, it feels normal. Sometimes there’s a buffer for my feet, so my arms can take a break. I’m not struggling anymore. I like this place; it doesn’t mask as happiness, it’s comfortable. I can pretend I’m not on the edge of a cliff and just do my thing.

Then there are days when the cliff isn’t there anymore. I’m standing on solid ground. This is the closest I feel to happiness. I can laugh genuinely, I don’t have to siphon happiness from mundane things like pink fluffy slippers and yellow G Wagons. I don’t have to flash my rehearsed smile. There’s almost a spring in my step. It never lasts. The fog clears and I see the cliff is still there and I’m still hanging off it.

I’m exhausted. I want it to end but I don’t want it to. I don’t know any other life asides this. The constant feeling of despair is draining but it’s home, I don’t know how to live anywhere else, I don’t want to live anywhere else. I want to be better but what does better entail? How do I get to it? Where’s my guarantee that it won’t just be another mirage? Who do I hold accountable if it is?

--

--

Rachel Sklar
0 Followers

Writer, entrepreneur & activist. Founder of TheLi.st and Change The Ratio. Just here to elevate women & sing showtunes. Find me @rachelsklar on Twitter/Insta.