Acceptance isn’t something that comes naturally to human beings. Even as children, we’re resisting the delicious chocolate pudding our parents are desperately trying to feed us in a small rubber-coated plastic spoon. Lips tightly pursed together, we tend to resist this goodness until our mother/father – who, at this time, appears to be enemy #1 in our infant mind – pushes it past our attempt of a barrier. Once that taste hits our mouth, there’s a whole new world to discover full of chocolaty goodness.
I’ve realized there are certain topics, people, or ideas that I instinctively hold on to with seemingly-justified distaste in my mouth; bitterness, resentment, or knee-jerk judgement calls. My fundamentalist christian upbringing is one of these areas that I’ve struggled to let go of for several years.
My mind races to find an answer for ‘why’ somebody might think it acceptable to tell a child X, Y, or Z. I’ve had to accept there simply isn’t an answer that I can find in my mind, nor a malicious intent on their end. My thought process undergoes the following dialogue:
“Why would you tell me, as a young child, that X is Y and will cause Z in your life?”
Well, my life has settled to a point where I realize that the fears I held over my life; that X or Y bad things would happen to me as a result of multiple subjects…that these things have not happened. Simply put, my life and quality of life has not been compromised because of these people, ideas, or world views that I’ve struggled to let go of for years.
It may seem like a jumble of words, but the short answer is this: I’m happy. I’m loved. I’m successful. I’m free.
Free to think. Free to live. Free to love. Free to be whoever it is that I want and dream to be. The only limitations are those my mind has placed on me. There are no shackles from previous ideas, as I once thought to be the case.
This revelation is unbelievably liberating for me, and allows me to forgive and accept a multitude of people in my life; past, present, and future.
I am loved. I am loved!
Featured Image From Deviantart
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