Stay Gold.

“When the words are like bullets
And they break through your skin
And there’s no way to get them all out
When it feels like rust seeping into your soul,
Stay gold.”
-Adventure Club

Have you ever felt judged? Have you ever been made to feel you were less than? Had someone tell you that you weren’t good enough? That you weren’t in the same class?

I’d be willing to bet its happened more than once. I know it has for me. Shoot, I’ve even been the guilty party. Much more than I’d like to admit. But being on either side has taught me a few lessons.

We’re almost preprogrammed to look for something outside of ourselves to fulfill us. We think that if we buy that object or wear a certain thing that somehow we’re going to be more accepted by society and somehow that means we’re going to be happier. For some reason, our minds tell us that our self worth is based on the judgement of our peers.

If they have something positive to say, we feel successful. But if it’s negative, we become devastated. It’s easy to become deprecating, especially when you see your shortcomings everywhere around you. It becomes almost second nature to put others down in order to pull ourselves up.

When we feel that we’re lacking somewhere in our lives, everything becomes a competition. It’s our brain’s way of convincing us that we’re good enough. We essentially become bullies, as we point out the flaws of others and sweep our own under the rug.

It’s odd though, because if we just take the time to get to know ourselves, take the time to peel back the layers of our onion, we learn that our flaws are no different than anyone else’s. When we sit with our shortcomings, we see that they’re not something we should fear but something we should accept and revere, as that’s what connects us to each other.

It’s time to free ourselves of that nasty cycle. It’s time to uplift and inspire one another, to stand together and share our battles instead of pushing each other down to get to the top. We are capable of climbing so much higher together than we ever could apart.

United we stand,
TeeJayye