Identity Crisis

What kind of person
cannot tell the difference
between euphoria and despair?
Though poles apart,
they have the same unsettling effect
and evoke shadows
of each other.

Are there others like her,
who fall through the cracks
between the able-bodied and disabled worlds?
Uncomfortable in both,
she feels like a fraud —
while trying to appear 'normal'
and when letting her guard slip.

How can she find a way
to feed a restless mind
that never stays still;
while protecting her fragile emotions
from stress, responsibility and change
and her body from pain?

Can she reconcile
the head and the heart?
To do what makes practical sense
while being true to herself?

The eternal state of flux
impacts her emotions most.
To haul herself back up,
she must make plans, keep busy—
One foot in front of the other.
She isn't sure who she is,
so she does what she always does,
and carries on.