The Buried Treasure

Millions of people have this neurobiological condition. When undiagnosed it can be devastating and debilitating, silently robbing the individual of their dreams, their hopes, their self-esteem. These people spend their lives trying to solve a riddle -- the mystery of their lives must lay somewhere out there, just around the next turn in the road. They remember that they have glimpsed it, that special something once felt or envisioned, before things got so overwhelming and they became trapped and lost -- wandering aimlessly in a forest looking for clues as if from an old treasure map. They know the treasure is there somewhere, but perhaps deeply buried or locked behind a fortress. They have incredible perseverance and determination to keep going, often pulling an enormous weight. The remembrance of that special feeling, the knowledge, deep inside, that they have something important of value to do, to create, to contribute, keeps them searching. They continue on, though the memory, that belief, grows more faint each year as despair begins to replace hope. Hope that they will ever find the treasure, that they will even find their way out of the forest and back to the road.

Still, they trudge on, clutching that old, crumpled, faded map, holding on to the hope they will find that buried treasure chest and reclaim their abandoned hopes and lost dreams.

I'm still looking...