Survival for Real

Survival for Real

Several times
a year,
in each season
of the year,

I push myself
through
difficult challenges
just to keep
my tolerance
edges.

Hammock sleeping
in extreme cold.

Yard work
in extreme heat.

Reading a book
in a small space.

Going through
some small trauma
to train myself
not to take reality
for granted
on any level.

This has
lowered my anger, increased my patience, raised my pain
tolerance,

and allowed me
to actually choose
my comfort levels.

My sense
of reality
is wider
because
it includes
the formerly
uninhabitable
regions.

I can
almost make it
through
an entire night
without that
overwhelming desire
to smell her
nakedness.

Almost.