Day 33 - Just some personal affirmations, self-reflections, and a long over-due thank you.

I live my life in the throes of wild, unapologetic passion. I'm a little crazy sometimes, but that's only when I'm lost in my own head and someone's trying to pull me out - I'll fight them tooth and nail.

I have a lot to give, so I expect a lot from the people in my life. But then, the people I've kept in my life have all risen to meet me, and we've all grown taller for it.

I've given up on trying to be anything less than precisely what I am. If and when people take issue with who that person is (as some people always will), I hold space for their opinions, but I do not change to accommodate them. If they can't learn to love me for me, then we both have to move on. I do my best to grant the same respect to every individual I encounter.

Why does this matter? Because, sometimes, it's really difficult to live this way. Sometimes, being everything we are can seem like an impossible task, especially when we bring other people into the equation. Sometimes it's the nay-sayers who lead us to question whether or not everything we are is too much or too little. Sometimes, people walk away from us, and we have trouble both accepting and understanding why.

Sometimes, being who we are hurts. It feels heavy, like we're carrying each piece of what makes us unique and indispensible on our backs for the world to see, but the load is stacked impossibly high, and all we want is to fall back on the old habits and routines of concealing those particularly vibrant parts of who we are from the world.

Don't. Don't hide yourself from others. Don't shy away from those who wish to challange what makes you, you. Do you best to take rejection, examine it, and then let it go. And then rise up, shrouded in your own glorious individuality.

I'd rather be alone than with anyone who doesn't appreciate me for everything I am. I know this is a difficult viewpoint to adopt. Lord knows, it's taken me my whole entire life to learn to love myself enough to make this possible, but, lately, I have found that it is incredibly true.

And this brings me back around to the throes of unapologetic passion. I know I can be a bit much for some people. I know that, sometimes, everything I am is a bit overwhelming, and that is why I wanted to say thank you to the people who have rolled with me through all my journeys, up all of those peaks and down all of those valleys. We have pushed each other for better, for worse, and we have weathered every storm. I have learned to be everything I am, learned to embrace everything I am, and learned to love everything I am; but I truly couldn't have done it if my friends and family hadn't done it first.

These people have taught me that I am not someone who's difficult to love. I am what I am.

Becca, Sam, Anneka, Nina, Julia, Kurt, Alec, Nick, Hayden, you people are my rocks. The tethers that have kept me anchored when I get lost in my own head. The people who have seen the darkness and who have reminded me of my own light. The people who, time and again, prove to me that true love is unconditional. The people who have shown me that, in my weirdness, in my passion, in the wild and transient way I choose to live my life, I am still a person worth loving. Without you all first showing me that, I would never have figured it out for myself. You are my best friends, and I don't know what I would be without you. Certainly not all that I am.

#balance #friendship #growth #lifelessons #life #light #love #meditations #namaste #revelation #transition #truth