For a great many years, I would tell myself to snap out of it, to try to shake off the shackles and convince myself that I don’t get down, I’m a happy person, I’m a positive person, I don’t have a problem. My periods of low mood would come and go, never causing any insurmountable problems but they were always a battle. It was exhausting to pretend that I didn’t have a problem and ironically, it got me down.
The less energy we can direct at trying to avoid confronting the difficult thoughts, difficult conversations, difficult situations, the more energy we have to start overcoming these same difficulties. Paradoxically, by accepting that we have highs and lows, accepting that we will make mistakes and we accept all the constraints that come with this existence of being human, we become less constrained.
Acceptance of our own fallibility is freedom.
Acknowledging our limitations allows us to up to them and find ways to improve ourselves.
Self-awareness allows us to live as a human, instead of despite being human.
It’s time to throw off the shackles of vanity and embrace the knowledge that everyone has highs and lows, the natural rhythms of human emotion and to stop wasting energy pretending this isn't true for ourselves and others.
It begins with self-awareness and self-acceptance. By embracing the waves of our emotions, positive or negative, we can find a way to be the best version of ourselves in any given situation. We may always try, but some days it's harder to be at our best than others. Without first accepting this, we are powerless to do anything about it.
There are no answers here, no solutions to everyones problems, but at request to simply embrace the nature of being human.
“The dark thought, the shame, the malice
Meet them at the door laughing
And invite them in”
Rumi - The Guest House
Blog: 118