Someone Somewhere Understands

"What one society judged to be strange, another might more sensibly welcome as normal. Other lands may return to us a sense of possibility stamped out by provincial arrogance; they encourage us to grow more acceptable to ourselves." - Alain de Botton

I used to take a great deal of pride in my brooding. It sounds ridiculous but I once believed the obstacles and worries I felt were unique only to me. No one could identify with my complexity, my subtleties, what made me tick. 

Comical.

It takes a great deal of courage to be vulnerable. We risk ridicule or judgement. But sharing our pain can liberate us from the shame or embarrassment we may feel. 

I've heard it said that on the other side of fear is freedom. Only it's not about denouncing that fear but learning to co-exist with it and not allowing it to define us. 

When we search for the friend or community of people who we can talk openly to we have the great fortune of stumbling across those who know seem to know us better than we do. We take solace in that connection and find the freedom to offer what Montaigne called our "true portrait."

My hope is that 2018 is the year you feel empowered to share your true portrait and make the effort to connect with a group of people who find profound joy in your perfect strangeness and unconventional view of the world. 

Whatever you are going through know you are far from alone. There are people, lots, who can identify with whatever you are feeling. To think otherwise is short-sighted, perhaps even a bit self-indulgent. 

There are 7 billion people on the planet and thousands of years of human history. One should take enormous comfort that someone somewhere feels your struggle, your heartache.

By sharing our stories we can empower others through our experiences and make the world a little smaller. Isolation after all perpetuates our pain.

Find your tribe and commit to not spending another moment being false to yourself.