We all have human bodies. They're all in various stages of illness, wellness, growth, and repair. They're all something so very temporary and precious. They won't hold us forever.
It's okay to love yourself and this thing we're lucky enough to ride around in, even when it's not perfect or something is broken. We don't have to wait for some magical achievement to justify our enjoyment of life in our amazing bizarro complicated bodies.
Yes, celebrate your achievements. But it would be my hope that we celebrate just being here as well. To have not a care in the world about "What would ____ think if they saw me?" and "Ohhh, just... Wow. I can't do this. What was I thinking?!". To let our knowledge and brain power comprehend self love and the foolishness of falling for stereotypes and societal bias. To be smart enough to not emulate shame but confidence to our children and peers, so that those around us know there's a different way to live besides being ashamed. So that we can break the cycle for the next generation, and let them live and love and laugh more.
So much more.
I could have easily written a book here about how I feel when it comes to my own experiences with bodily autonomy and those who tried to take it from me, or the various ways I was expected to be shamed into a corner and not love who I was.
But it shouldn't take that much effort to have the intended message heard. It's not a difficult one if the belief in equality and humanity is there.
Be excellent to each other.
That's beautifully written. I've been there for several years. It's quite amazing to me still that I now attract people just like me, and now the negative people leave me alone.
Friends, don't buy what society is selling. It's self-doubt, self-loathing, and utter bullshit. Accept wh you are. Everything. Your past is what made you who you are right now, and who you are right now is worthy and deserving of unconditional love. Have no regrets. To regret anything in your past is to regret a part of yourself. The past cannot be changed, so accept it, love it, and learn what love of yourself feels like. You won't go back.
I wonder what it would be like to wake up one day and truly love myself, and to not be concerned with anything outside of my power. I have felt so little except for pain and misery and hate, in every aspect of my life, that I found myself looking up the definition of love just shortly before checking agnostic. I wonder if I'll ever feel any semblance of it. How do you crawl through darkness for so long you become so blind you can't find light and then return from that? I don't understand what it feels like to love. And my own body at that? I can not imagine what it feels like to love yourself, much less how to get there.
I wonder if I'm far too broken to ever get there
Changing yourself is possible, albeit a challenge. The first step may be the most difficult. For you, I recommend smiling, even a forced smile will work. The more often you smile, the quicker you will change.
From The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran,
And a woman spoke, saying, Tell us of Pain.
And he said:
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses
your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its
heart may stand in the sun, so must you know
pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily
miracles of your life, your pain would not seem
less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart,
even as you have always accepted the seasons
that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the
winters of your grief.
Much of your pain is self-chosen,
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within
you heals your sick self.
Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy
in silence and tranquility:
For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by
the tender hand of the Unseen,
And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has
been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has
moistened with His own sacred tears.
@Jagnostic just love his work
Bill S. Preston, esquire
And
Ted Theodore Logan
This is an important piece. So much meanness is due to self-hate. This lesson of self-love could make a significant effect on society. I would like to refer to THE GREATEST LOVE, a great song. It sums this up so well.
That is a wonderful statement!
( last line took me right to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure... 'party on dudes' forgive me
@DuchessNyx I am glad you enjoyed my silliness!
All I can do is echo the sentiment here...thank you for this. I may just have to read it every morning!
Heaven is 2 hearts love as one ....self love readies us for joy together
@LetzGetReal THE WHO sang : " in life one & one don't make two it makes one ! "
it s a very beautiful thought, I thank you for it, and I wish I lived in a community that set out to be this simple and loveable nad I wish I had the intelligence to meet people who arent at this level in their lives, in a kinder way - for some reaon I seem to attract people who would love to put me down or see me put down.