difference

There are people who turn out to be different but accept themselves as they are, seeing nothing wrong in themselves for this. They don't try to change so others think better of them but instead adapt their life to who they are inside. Their difference can become empowering and admirable.

Then there are people who turn out to be different and resent it. They want to be like those around them but they're not so they identify reasons for this and spend their lives resenting their lot, never accepting who they are. Opting instead to try to find ways to become more normal, more and more the way everyone else seems to be.

The anxiety and depression that results doesn't stem from being different from others but from wanting to be different than they are. From prioritizing the comfort and opinions of others over their own. From denying their inner truths in favour of societal norms. From suppressing their true natures in order to fit in and act in more socially conventional ways. From sacrificing their inner selves for acceptance by the herd. We might blame the lack of love in our lives on others, but the real cause is the lack of love for ourselves. It may have started with others but we have the power to choose now. We deny this power and choose victimhood.

A choice has to be made. Accept ourselves and accept the challenges and consequences of that or keep our eyes fixed on stories of the past and spend our energies fueling powerlessness and resentment whenever situations don't turn out the way we hoped. Situations that may simply not have been right for us. The real us, the deeper us beyond our ideas about how we should be and how our lives should look.

Our perspective, our choice in how to see ourselves, will decide whether something good or bad has transpired. It's not on them, it's on us and our own mind. Maybe our energies can be better spent if we let go of the past and these conditioned ideas and focus instead on exploring, accepting and loving who we are right now.