How do you step from the top of a 100 foot pole?

In my head there are all these questions which are moving around like a screen saver in bright colors on a black background

How did I get here, Why am I here, who is here with me, When did this happen, where are my clothes? ….

Suddenly I am struck by fear, almost paralyzed. The feeling is one I have had before. The feeling you get when you arrive at school and your wearing no clothes, or the feeling you get when you can see somebody is in your dark room staring at you but you cant move or make a sound, the feeling you get when you are falling off a cliff and cant seem to stop yourself….a feeling so familiar and so real of which I have no control.

As I try taking control of my mind, I lurk there; pondering what on earth my mind is trying to tell me this time. “What is going on?” I say out loud.

“You’re stuck here” I hear, but who is speaking? “It’s the pole”

Me: “how do I get down” I reply ´

The poll:”well how did you get here?”

Me: I don’t know could you help me.

The poll:” I can only help you to help yourself”

Me: “Well that’s not much help otherwise I wouldn’t be here”

The poll: “You are here because you chose to be here”

Me: “That’s ridiculous; I would never choose to be in a situation that I couldn’t get out of.”

The pole: “Well, funny enough you did… there were 3 ways you could go and you chose to climb over the pole rather than go around it.”

Me: “Why would I do that?”

The poll: “Perhaps you never noticed what you were doing until you realized you were stuck…many obstacles in life seem invisible until we stuck so deep in the mud we can’t get out by ourselves.”

Me: “I think I would have noticed if I was climbing up a 100 foot pole!”

The poll: “You think you would have noticed when you were half way into the mistakes u make in your life, but you only seem to notice when you’re stuck.”

Me: “ok, I get what you’re saying but it’s not helping me get down”

The poll: “the only way to get down is to realize how you climbed up”

The thing about being stuck on top of a 100 foot pole and not knowing how to step down, is to understand what the pole represents. Knowing why we are in certain situations doesn’t always help us get out of them but knowing how we got there helps us to be aware of certain obstacles next time we are stuck at cross roads.