Okay, so I decided to give the six-sentence stories a trial run till October, and this is the next one! The work of the week is NET , posted by girlontheedge. I chose to write about someone with an unspecified mental illness, take from it what you will
There are days when I get up and everything is wrong and I am teetering on a high wire without a safety net. On these days people can see that I am not okay, and they buzz around full of endless suggestions that only make me feel more off-balance.
Then there are the days when I get up and it’s as if the wire never existed and I walk sure footed with my head held high, a smile on my face. On these days people see that I am fine, and they think that it is over, and that if I try hard enough that I can always be this way.
What they cannot see is that the wire never really goes away and the difference is just that some days balancing is easy so I can play a person, but the rest I am doing everything I can just to keep from falling off.
They do not understand that this change they see is even harder for me because I am walking the high wire without a safety net and every step I take could be the easiest or hardest of my life and I do not know which it will be until I am already taking it.
Anne McSommers' Writing Nook 
A thoughtful Six and use of the prompt. It’s true that for some even on the easier days the wire is still there. So hard. I think it’s hard on the people around them too as they don’t always know how to act or have the right things to say at the time. At least as long as they keep taking those steps (with or without a wire or net) they’re trying to progress and get somewhere.
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“the wire never really goes away and the difference is just that some days balancing is easy so I can play a person”
Depending on one’s perspective, the ability to “play a person” might go in the + column. Call it “wearing the hat”. You put it on and, familiar with the appropriate behavior, go about the day playing the part until one day, you find there is no play acting involved, all you. This, surely a simplification of a reality far more complex than I can imagine.
I agree with The Mage, movement forward, no matter the size of the step is movement in a positive direction.
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Even taking the smallest step is a progression on a difficult journey… Great use of the prompt!
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Some days all you can do it keep going!
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An excellent analogy for how it feels to have mental illness and it certainly taught me something. Great six!
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Thank you, tried to take the “balancing act” and go with it.
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