Hold your breath. Go ahead, do it. Are you ready to continue? Good. I want you to keep that one breath, savor it for as long as you can. If you have to let it go, feel free; no one will look down on you. Start over if you want. Eventually, everyone needs to let go, but not us. Not yet.
There are two kinds of people in this world—those who do what they are told and those who do what they want. We sometimes go back and forth rapidly between the two types but most often stick to one or the other in the long run. Getting stuck on one is as bad as constantly switching. Still holding that breath? I know I am. I find pinching my nose and puffing out my cheeks really helps.
By holding your breath, you are proving capable of being the kind of person who does what they are told. That is not a terrible thing. This really is an exercise to prove an upcoming point. Keep holding until then, please. For most of my life, I fell into the category of doing what I was told. Little things, however, began to eat away at me. Time and time again, I really wanted to keep holding on even to the point of passing out just to please someone. For family, I would turn purple. For friends, maybe blue. For everyone else, it would depend.
We are at the halfway point now, well past tough. It will now be easier to let go and be done holding. Sometimes you’ll get the urge to take more breath in as if that would help, but we both know that will only make it harder. Why again are you doing this? Right, because I asked you to. How many times have you done what someone else has asked you to do to your own detriment?
Sometime soon, you’ll need to let go. Like I said before, we all must breathe, so no hard feelings. What will drive some to keep holding is the challenge to beat me or someone else. See how long you can hold out and then ask everyone else how far they got. Please don’t be that person. This isn’t a game. That’s not my point.
Concentrating often becomes difficult when you get this far. You’ve gotten used to that burning feeling that you need to cough or clear your throat. People around will definitely watch and notice your strange behavior. Don’t hold it to please them; hold it to please me. Hold it, and wait for the point. If all else fails, do it for yourself and no one else.
By now you have surely either taken a second or third breath, possibly started over, like pleasing me is your only mission in life. Some of you decided long ago that holding your breath was stupid or dangerous and didn’t even do it. Those who didn’t are hoping I’ll stop this nonsense and get to the point. Sadly, if you didn’t hold your breath, you will know the point but not feel it.
Here it goes—you need to breathe to live. You stopped living your life because I, a total stranger, asked you to. Don’t let that ever happen again.