How to Feel Small Again

Choose a crooked doorway and measure yourself against it.

Mark the aging wood where you once believed you would stop growing.

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Stand beneath a ceiling fan and imagine it could lift you, just like you used to do.

Hold still long enough to feel it pulling you toward the sky.

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Speak a silly question into an empty room.

Let the stoic walls answer with woolly silence.

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Climb into a bed that's much too large for you.

Lie diagonally, as if claiming fresh territory, and notice how much room still remains.

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Hold an object you loved dearly before you fully understood how much it cost.

Apologize to it for having hands now.

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Call someone who remembers you from before you grew into a performer.

Allow them to give you a new name that fits loosely around your shoulders.

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Finally, kneel and press your ear to the floor.

Listen for the animal breathing beneath the house.

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Wait until you realize it is much older than your fear.

Wait a few minutes more, until you fully understand it will outlive you.

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Stay there.