Is the Fear Worth the Reward When We Say Goodbye to Parts of Ourselves?
Saying goodbye is always hard but sometimes it is necessary to create space for something new.
My first thought when I think about saying goodbye is the people that have departed my life for many reasons over the years. My second thought is for the aspects of myself I’ve had to say goodbye to, namely the images I’ve created, identities I’ve formed, and then peeled off as they grew too tight and began to suffocate.
Now, I’m no Mr. Ripley so this isn’t a tale of manipulation and mystery but then again perhaps it is.
We can only be known by how much of ourselves we expose to the gaze of others. What we say, how we act, the choices we make. All of these things shape how we are seen, but what of the images we build in our own minds about who and what we are. Who are we manipulating then if not ourselves?
I can do this.
I can’t do that.
I’m really good at…
I’m useless at…
All stories we write and then hold to be fact. Some of them help us, protect us, and put us into neat little boxes which feel safe and very comfortable. Others make that box very small with no space to stretch and grow.
