I have one more confession to make. . . .
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to be vulnerable?
Ok. Ok. For those of you who know me, the real me, it is not difficult at all. I don't mind sharing--anything. But that's with people I know and love. It is difficult to share the real me with people I don't know well--and who will judge me. I am deathly afraid of sharing the real part of me that will be judged by others.
But the real truth is that I don't care what anyone thinks about me.
I love me. I love myself. I love who Polly Anna is. I know who I am in Jesus. I am proud of the woman Jesus has made me. I like
me. I like the loud Polly. I don't mind it at all. I love my laugh. I love my JOY. I love the fact that I embrace life. I love that I love with everything I am. I love how I love. I love that I have always known what I want and I go after it. I love my personality. I love FEELING--even the bad. I don't mind my tears even though my tears can be sobs that shake my body to the core. They don't scare me. Even my anger doesn't scare me. It can be intense, but I feel it deep in my soul, just as I do everything else. I feel love deep in my soul. I always thought everyone else did, too. I like ME. I Love ME. I Love Polly Anna.
Sure I have days of low self-esteem. Who doesn't? Especially when someone says mean things or tells me I'm too loud or complains about something else. But when I stop and I take inventory and evaluate myself--who I am, I love ME. And I don't care whether you do or not. So go ahead and judge.
If you are uncomfortable with the fact that I shared my vulnerability in my previous blog post--that I'm not doing ok right now, I'm not sorry. That's your problem. That is something you need to deal with. I hope you find a way to take your own mask off and love yourself enough to be vulnerable with others. I, for one, am done pretending to be someone I'm not.
I'm tired of being judged, bullied, and treated as a social pariah. I'm tired
of others making me feel as if being "different" is a bad thing. My mom always told me that it's ok to be different. And you know what? My Momma is right. It's those who are different who make a difference in the world. I don't like fitting in. Why in the world would I want to fit in when I was born to stand out? It's the oddballs who get noticed. It's the strange folks who end up being remembered. I don't want to be a lemming. I don't want to be a member of the lottery. I want to be a voice who says, "No!" The only way to make that happen is to be different. I'm very ok with that.
If my loudness or hugginess or other eccentricities bother you, I will not apologize for any part of who I am. I don't do any of it to make you uncomfortable or out of meanness or to disrupt your life in any way, shape, form, or fashion. I want to respect you. If who I am makes you uncomfortable, then, just like we do with Facebook, keep scrolling--just keep walking. But don't be mean.
Because I LOVE myself. And you should LOVE yourself, too, because you're pretty great, too, because both of us are just the way we are meant to be. I lika you and you lika me and we lika both the same. I am not scared of my vulnerability. All I can do is hope and pray that you can at least respect that.
I am going to use this post to be vulnerable and share with you that I am desperate for encouragement.
My anxiety is through the roof.
Since God sealed my cave almost 2 years ago (see previous entries), I have found a whole new cave that I have RUN into. The darkness has surrounded me again and I am not so sure that I want to come out ever again. I know my Jesus is at the entrance to my cave calling my name in love as He watches over and protects me. I just cannot bring myself to listen and respond.
At this moment in time, with my anxiety level so high, it FEELS that there is more comfort to be found in the darkness than in my Savior's Light.
It's just TOO hard to go on CHOOSING JOY every day, every hour of every day, every second of every day.
I am reading scripture; I am in the Word. I am speaking the Word. I am listening to and singing worship songs. I am reading and doing Bible Studies. But I am struggling.
October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month and I am 1 in 4.
