It’s called writer’s block, which is really a thought block. The times where your brain is blocked from connection and reality. The movements, the hate, the sides that steal a functioning flowing brain pattern and block the consciousness from looping back inward and coping.

I can’t just pick a side. I can’t just wrap a single belief into a tiny box with a little bow and give it a name. It’s easy to write the painted picture with one color – blue or red, black or white, gray or gold – but it’s incomplete and not as beautiful. The beauty of art is the spectrum of colors that are beyond this reality, the true in between. But, like Alice before entering Wonderland, a choice must be made. A side must be chosen, but I feel too big to go through the tiny door. In a time of only two choices – stay or go, risk or homeschool, risk or grocery shop, risk or stay silent, risk or madness – there is a shrinking anxiety. Share on X To continue, unprepared, is a poor choice, knowing that behind that door is nonsense and chaos. The path home, to “normal,” is going to be a merry-go-round of fools: crazy nursemaids, strung out caterpillars, broken governmental systems, and those who epitomize dumb by fighting each other’s differences while looking exactly alike.

Unwritten and undecided I stay, in a hallway, looking at a door I can’t go through. Looking up the hole of history that I just fell from. The next logical move is to just eat the cake. It’s there in front of me. Its words a command that I have to follow to move forward. The tempter, the baker of the cake, whispers, “Eat me! Just pick a side, pick a size, join the madness. We are all mad here!”

Maybe, Alice taught us how to make it through this Wonderland, changed but safe.

Recite: keep repeating what you know to be true, for madness will try to take your truth.

Rise above nonsense: when nonsense is spewed just for the sake of nonsense itself, remind yourself that madness served with tea does not have to be drunk.

And play the game: the game is rigged against you and the rules are ever-changing, play it right anyway.

Lewis Carroll added his Christian philosophy to all of his works, so can we see Alice as almost a Christ character as he tries to restore spiritual order in a lost society. Jesus, too, taught us a path home.

Recite: Jesus would recite prophecy and scripture to prove his point of the nature of God.

Rise above nonsense: Jesus often questioned the rules and laws that allowed oppression instead of spiritual growth.

And play the game: was there a game out there more rigged than the path to the cross? But he played anyway, knowing that righteousness is better than winning.

Jesus came to this world of nonsense and chaos to allow relief from the madness for those who sought it out. Not for all, but for those seeking. The only next right thing for the seekers among us is to eat the cake, walk through the door, recite our beliefs, rise above nonsense, and play the game.

Just because I am ready to return to the world again does not mean I have to dance from left to right, and right to left. I will walk straight down the middle, playing my own game, shoving the temptations and madness out of my way. I will not need to drink from every cup to look correct in other’s eyes. My journey from here will disappear and I plan to leave a lasting smile.

Melanie Winter

Melanie is the Director of Marketing and Content Writer for WinternetWeb Technologies.

Melanie writes content for clients to promote marketing and branding in her web development business. She also writes for a blog and local community history projects and publications. She earned a Bachelors from Virginia Tech in Communications, English, and Religion. Melanie also enjoys writing fiction, spending time with her two daughters, antiquing, gardening, and community volunteering.