unwavering (self) acceptance

dedicated to anyone who feels parts of themselves are unlovable, i love you

"who are you?" he asked.

the girl took a deep breath and said,

"i am peace.

i am chaos.

i am grateful.

i am envious.

i am worthy.

i am unworthy.

i am fulfilled.

i am empty."

the boy looked at her again,

"no... which one are you?"

the girl smiled.

"don't you see?

we are multifaceted beings,

 full of multifaceted parts.

instead of trying to make every part of ourselves fit in a box,

we can allow each part of ourselves to shape the box."

the boy frowned.

"but how can you allow every part to exist,

when there is good and bad,

right and wrong?

why would we accept both the dark and the light?

i only want to be good.

i only want to feel good."

silly boy, she thought.

"take a deep breath.

and close your eyes.

imagine you're caught in a rip current,

in the midst of the ocean.

you thrash, you fight,

you swim as hard as you can to save yourself ,

until your body can fight no more.

and then you let go.

you stop resisting.

you allow the waves to be as they are.

and to your surprise,

they carry you back to shore."

the boy slowly opened his eyes.

"i get it," he whispered.

"the point isn't to resist the parts of myself,

but to allow them.

to see that even the ones i call 'bad'

were only trying to protect me.

and if i trust them,

they will guide me home."

~liv xx