Stages of sanity

I look at the face in the mirror.  Is that me? I don't recognize this face. When did I change? Where have I been? 

I look at the picture is me in my youth,  so full of dreams,  so full of promise.  Where did that youth go? Where did his path stray?

I never meant to become the man I am today,  the stranger's face I see staring back at me.  The decisions I've made,  the choices I've taken, none of them matter.

The path, I once was set to walk, is blown away in the dust of time. Will I, too,  join this fate? Is there a way too change?

The face I see before me is not the man I've chosen,  but the man I've become. The outcome decided by the choices I've made.  I once tried to live a life with no regrets.  I now see that is simply not possible.  Regrets are inevitable when choices are made. 

With a life that's full of bumps,  I find myself once again crossing the minefield. This time, instead of curiosity drawing me forwards,  it's love leading me away.  Alone.  To a place where I belong,  a place where I can screw up no one else's life. 

I might one day be the most interesting man in the world.  But today,  I'm a man making hard decisions hurting the ones I love to make sure they have a happier life.