The journey of self acceptance

 Self acceptance. The easiest and hardest thing to be confident with. It comes in waves and most of the time you aren't 100% certain of how you are feeling because thoughts are so easily swayed. Okay-- maybe a lot of people aren't like this, or it could be a thing of age. But, I know with myself, these past two years have seemed to become a work of self acceptance. Whether it be outwardly accepting my skin for what it is to something about my character that makes me feel ugly. The things that seem to come to mind that have helped me most are:

- Sorrow and sadness. It changes you, it helps you. These emotions help you understand a pain so deep that when the strongest waves pass you will be able to offer your shoulder for someone else that needs you because most people don't know how to react to sorrow. Hell, I never did. Silence scares people sometimes, and that's okay, but sometimes silence is what you need in order to have conversations that turn friendships into families.

-Selflessness. There had been so many times where I would feel myself feeling badly for myself, instead of realizing the situation in front of me. Everyone feels badly about particular things in life, EVERYONE does. You are not special in these feelings. Instead of victimizing yourself, listen to others. Relate, tell stories, cry and laugh. I have created so many little families in my life with this.

- Comparison. The deadliest of them all. When you see yourself. A perfect specimen and you belittle it into something that is not you. That is not your flesh, not your voice, something that is equally a beautiful entity, but not you. My goal in life is to make is to make everyone I know feel special, to make sure that they feel loved and that they are important. Yet, by comparing myself to someone else, I am taking my very own life philosophy and throwing it away. Holding to your word is one of the most powerful things a person can do because it is so rarely done.

The older I am getting the more I am realizing how silly it is not to accept yourself as you are, yet, I hear inklings of struggles. I feel as though I just went through a wave and now I am coasting along. It will probably always be something I hear, yet, I think that sometimes that is what keeps you humble. When you question and somewhat challenge yourself to follow and believe in something, you realize the value of the very thing in front of you.