“I know for sure that one of the best things I ever did for myself was to question how I spoke to myself. To have a real gut check and say to myself, “Would I think that about Erin?”, “Would I say that shit to Amy?”, or “Would I treat Joe like this?” has been therapeutic. Why do I think these things about myself when I would never think these things about the people I really love? It might sound like really granola, newage (rhymes with sewage) “radical self-love” bullshit, but it really helped me put my self-loathing in a box stored off-site along with my other baggage.
I know that finding a way to deal with that baggage was the beginning of change for me. Some of that baggage is dealt with by gaining new perspectives. Some of it is medicated away. Some of it is compartmentalized and pushed to the side. Some of it I healed from and it’s no longer an issue. Some of it still haunts my nightmares. Some of I forgot to pack when I moved. And some of it has just been there so long it has become “characterlogical”.
I know for sure that some of my baggage; my trauma, my experiences, my fears, my habits and my idiosyncrasies are just a part of who I am. And that can be okay.”