Ummmm, so I realized that my post yesterday was all mopey-dopey, "sad single lady dies alone in apartment, face is eaten by cats"-like, and some of you kind of very wonderfully were like, "Um, WTF?"
And then I re-read it and was grossed out, soooo, yeah. Sometimes it's good to get that shit out, if only for the chance to see yourself as you really are for a second.
In other words, I've weighed myself in the balance, and found myself wanting.
Which means it's mini-manifesto time for any of you who have felt or are feeling the same way. Let's go.
Mini-Manifesto, Fall 2012
This post is a call to an end.
An end to
...wondering if the other people have it better than we do.
...tears and questions and "what if."
...pretending to play it cool when, in fact, our insides are most definitely not cool.
...moping and hoping that today will be the day he/she realizes what a mistake he/she made.
...thinking that we are "less than" for being one way or another.
...defining ourselves by our age group, weight class, or financial situation.
...negativity and apathy.
This post is a call to beginnings.
The beginning of
...understanding that perspective is everything...you can either be cowed by your perceived success of others, or learn that the only success (or feeling of success) you control is your own.
...living our lives in the day to day nowness of it all. It's okay to have our past and future colored by what we know to be true from the sum of our experiences...but "what if" is a waste of time and energy.
...seeing ourselves for who we truly are, and embracing the bumps and bruises while also kindly guiding ourselves to healing what needs to be healed, fixing what needs to be fixed.
...realizing that he/she is not responsible for our feelings, that he/she did what felt like the right thing in that moment, that the only thing worth hoping for is his/her continued happiness, while we actively strive for our own.
(Oh, and PS--if it WAS a mistake, it's his/her mistake to make. Allow him/her the delicious agony of spending his/her life in misery wondering "what if" on their own. I KID. Sort of.)
...seeing life as a practice, as elastic, as something that we can improve, in our own time, and in our own way. Like I said here:
...defining ourselves by our experiences, rather than by the things we cannot change, like our age, or the way our foreheads are beginning to crinkle, just like our moms'.
...positivity...of trying new things, believing the best in others and ourselves, and trading cynicism for well-studied realism and proactive movement toward change.
The End
What might you add to this list of endings and beginnings?