Honesty and emotions and pain and joy

I have some very honest friends, it seems. Both Jenny Wadley and Tim Iwan have written some evidently very difficult-to-write posts very recently. I’m still chewing on whether I can contribute anything to this dialog on honesty and emotions, but in the meantime, you’d do well to read their posts yourself.

From Jenny’s Truth Hurts:

I learned that my life isn’t always easy, but it’s always an interesting adventure. I learned that the real me didn’t need any embellishment. I learned that if you let people see you as you truly are, and they still like you, it is much more rewarding and amazing and humbling than if they like you for some false self. And, most importantly, I learned that there is freedom in being honest.

I struggled for a long time to fully embrace honesty. That’s why I say my honesty was hard-won, and why I’m not willing to give it up.

Over the last year, I’ve brought honesty to a whole new level within myself. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I truly don’t believe in a god. That I put my faith in people, and in love, but not in god. I’ve come to accept that I really want everyone to get along and for there to be no conflict, but that isn’t realistic. I’ve realized that the pseudo-science I grew up accepting is false and often dangerous, and that I’ve made mistakes in accepting the heartfelt convictions of others over the evidence of science. I’ve embraced that the fairy tales I grew up believing aren’t quite true, and that love isn’t as easy as one rescuer knight on a white horse taking me away from all of my problems.

And from Tim’s Strip Away the Labels and See Me As Me:

Flash forward to now, I am more confident and more assertive of myself, seeing the world with my own eyes and allowing it to overwhelm me with it’s seemingly-endless ideas and beauty. And yet I am still strangely feeling like a shell. To some, it feels as though I am nothing more than “The Sweet Skeptic Guy”, full of sincerity and genuine love. Which is entirely true, I never say anything I don’t mean. But it also can make me feel as though I am taken as, just like the title to that Douglas Adams book, “Mostly Harmless”. I am much more than just a sweet word or two that tells you that I hope your day is the best it can be, I am more than a word or two that tells you that you are beautiful, and I am more than a word or two that will do everything in his power to make sure that you are cheered up when your day is shitty or stressful. That is just a part of me, and not all of me.

I generally only put my favorite posts in the Introspection category. I like introspection, as much as I might curse it now and then. This may not be my own introspection, but it’s notable and laudable that my friends have such experiences on the intertubes as well. And I’m proud to be able to call both of them friends.

{advertisement}
Honesty and emotions and pain and joy
{advertisement}

One thought on “Honesty and emotions and pain and joy

Comments are closed.