Courage

Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway — John Wayne

In a society that profits from your self-doubt & fear, “loving yourself” is having the courage to face what scares you & take the reins of your life into your own hands, instead of just following the person in-front of you.

Growing up, society has taught me to always compare myself to what it deems “success to be”, & of course there’s always been a gap between their benchmark & what I am. Hence, I’ve always disliked those aspects of myself that “fell short”. Despite this, to try & fit in, I still strove towards reaching the ideals set by surrounding environment only to miss, become disappointed in my ”lacking”, & consequently form a deep dislike of myself…..

It’s taken years for me to realise that society’s “benchmarks” aren’t always for me & to strive towards them is “wasted energy”. Instead, what is occurring more-&-more to me is that what I am in my own state, i.e. my uniqueness, is all I need to be. The only thing worth striving to “perfect” is being the BEST VERSION OF WHAT I AM: psychologically, intellectually, emotionally, physically, sexually (safe), professionally, amongst other dynamics, all of which can be SCARY TO ADMIT TO ONESELF.

“Saddling up” to explore who I am, what I like & what I want, is attracting more of what I’m interested in, & more critically who is right for my environment vs. those who are not. In turn, I’m becoming braver at cutting out what isn’t for me, in lieu of what is. Doing more of this is giving me confidence to follow what I want instead of what society has previously expected of me. Learning to respect oneself is this manner, is what I call “self love”, it’s learning to love yourself, even if there’s a scary difference vs. what you’ve “taught to be”….

There are [many] days that I slip, so, I have to start again each morning that I wake, to remind myself that every “kick in the saddle” is actually a boost. Hence, making the path of “my life, my own” an ongoing journey for me to navigate, is a constant work-in-progress. I dare you to take-up the reins of your own life & learn to “be yourself”.