There’s a possibility that drifts past me, not quite making contact, not quite settling on me. It causes a slight lightening of the spirit but feels dangerous, like hope.
“What if I’m OK?”
If I could say to myself, “You are.” What a relief that would be. How much extra energy and time I would have. How much unconditional joy I would have.
The thing is, if you were to come to me and say, “What if I’m OK?”
I would say, promptly, “You are.”
But you are. The hang-ups and insecurities you have, I don’t understand. You are beautiful and kind, you are brave and smart. You are a survivor. Every day you make it. You are still standing, smiling, laughing, studying, thinking, loving.
I’m not letting you off the hook. There just is no hook. Don’t be mean, that’s all I expect from other people. If you can stand up in this harsh and difficult world and not be mean, you are more than OK in my book. You are a marvel of humanity.
But from me, oh the expectations. The list is long and growing. The constant lengthening of the list is a promise to myself. “You will never be OK.”
If I was smart, I would ask myself, “Self, when I do all this, what can I have?”
Cornered, my self will be forced to laugh a little slyly, and respond, “Have? Well nothing. There are other pages under that one, silly.”
This isn’t self-loathing or even self-pity. It is just something I don’t know how to release. It’s not like I’m interested in perfection. It’s not like I don’t know how little success with my list means to other people. It just is. It’s my hook. I’m not OK. Or Not OK enough for myself. I should work on that.
I’ll add it to my list.
Only a smart person could have written this. Only a self-aware person could have written this. Only a person in tune with their humility could have written this.
Take it from me…You’re OK enough! And that’s all we can ever hope to be.
Hugs always, the Hedgehog x
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Well, you’ve gone and made me tear up again. Thank goodness for you, dear hedgehog. Thank you. 🙂 You are truly a marvel of humanity!
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The feeling’s mutual! 🙂 x
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I could have written the same thing. Slowly, over the course of my life, I am coming to realize, I”M OK! In fact, I’m better than okay. I’m great. I’m loved and I’m loving. I’m not perfect, but who is? When one starts loving herself is when she can truly start growing because she can develop her gifts instead of maintaining her perceived inadequacies. Or something like that.
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