This is beginning to seep in. The most important part of it to me is that, "You get to laugh loudly, paint, write and create. You get to be yourself."
I LOVE writing. I didn't start in earnest until five-six years ago. This blog has been hugely important to me. I process my life as I write. Thank you for reading and commenting!
I was unauthentic the first half of my life. I relied on following others, taking subtle signals from others on how to respond. I did not know how to live my own life. And I didn't even know that I wasn't living my own life. I can see it so much more clearly now that I've been claiming myself for the last few years. (I love the 40's!!)
I feared so much. I lived in daily anxiety. A few months ago, I went to a party that was with a group that I am not usually extended an invitation. George was working that night and I worked hard to find a date to go with me. In the past, the first "no" would have halted the process and felt like a major rejection of me. Yet I kept asking, I was determined to go. Finally, a newer friend of mine was able to go. God bless her, she is still friendly with me because I was so anxious about going and it came out as non-stop blathering. I couldn't stop talking about my worries….
About going to a party??
When and how did I become this person? (But that doesn't matter and I don't want to spend any more time figuring it out in my head, I just want to grow) I didn't really understand what happened until the next day, and I processed my behavior and how anxious I was. About half way through the party, I thought, do I really want to be here? I had been wanting to break through into this group for so long (with no real action on my part, just wishing and hoping) and here I was thinking, hmmm. Do I want to be here?
And why did I want to be a part of this group so badly? Attractive FB pictures? The desire to be part of a tribe, to be part of a larger whole, to be connected with people?
This is part of figuring out who I am. I have to try things and see how it goes and some may be just the ticket and some may not. I recognize that there is a group that I belong to at church that I have felt at home with from the moment I sat down in the chair of their book study. I can't say this strongly enough. I FELT AT HOME FROM THE MOMENT I SAT DOWN. The discussions that we have are exactly in line with passions of mine. PASSIONS! They give me support like I have never had, and they comment on who I am becoming and see me for who I am. I walk in the door and they hug me and are glad to see me. I have learned to have a voice in that class. I speak up and say what's on my heart and it's not always pretty but they applaud me and my efforts and say the most warm, nurturing and loving things. And I'm learning to do the same. I am learning to be nurturing and warm. I thought I was before but I wasn't in the way that I aspire to be or rather who I think I am deep inside where fear is not holding me back.
It's so much easier to love others when you love yourself.
And I have never attended any functions of this group that I was invited to.
There is a party tonight. I am making plans to go. And there will probably be nerves. And that's okay. I need to try this out. It may or may not be the ticket but I won't know unless I try.
Namaste.
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