Mouches volantes

They are there in your field of vision. Small threads slowly drifting downward. Transparent dots that dart away the moment you try to fix on them. Web-like formations that push themselves between you and the world — most visible against bright surfaces, a blue sky, white paper. You try to look through them, but they stay. They move with your gaze, as if tethered to your sight.

Medicine tells you these are vitreous opacities. Harmless, age-related, something you get used to. And yes, the physical explanation has its validity. But your body always speaks a second language too. When something literally pushes itself between you and your clear sight — when your own vision is clouded from within — it is worth listening more closely.

Because these dancing shadows are an image. An image of how you see yourself — or rather: of how you avoid truly seeing yourself.