Sometimes I have to recheck my motives for doing things.
Sometimes I do things for the pure joy of it...dance, yoga, nature walk, listen to music, read something interesting, etc
But, sometimes when I am engaged in something, like college studies(which I do for the end result and also enrichment), I get flashes of my past that creep in that remind me of a negative message, and it makes me wonder if one of my motives is to also prove something about my self. At times I recall my ex-husband calling me 'stupid' or 'dumb'. And I search my mind for evidence to counter this, and say to my self: 'of course that's not true, I'm doing very well in school, always have' or 'I realize that those words were tools to tear me down and were untrue'. But, I still feel sometimes that I have to 'prove' that I'm intelligent, for example. Damn, words can hurt.
Another example~ sometimes I don't tell the complete truth when my family calls and asks how I'm doing. Over the past five yrs, since I left the religion, I have had some really good times and feel liberated and never look back. But, it has also been extremely difficult at times to create a social life and to heal from the losses. I've expressed a bit about my hurt to my family, but mostly I say that I'm good. Why? Well, much of the time it's true, but really it's because i don't want them to imagine that leaving the religion is a bad thing and only leads to misery. They cannot grasp that the religion itself is what sets people up for having a difficult time of it once they leave. The religion cripples people mentally, emotionally, socially.
So, whatever abuses I have received have left me with some heaviness. I realize that the only person that I have anything to prove to is my self. There are those times, though, when justice and then also acceptance and validation from others would feel good. Sometimes I don't want to have to be so strong. I long for kindness.
~Faerie