Words to live by.

{found here}

I'm starting to really wonder how personal I should be on this here blog. In most facets of my life I am an open book, but something seems strange and indulgent about yakking on and on about my life here. Probably because I feel so disconnected from anyone who reads this. So often I post something inane and am incredibly surprised (and delighted!) when someone mentions it in my real life. Of course, there are my friends who I kinda expect to check in every once in a while. (Ha, sorry guys, but it's totally true!) But, when someone unexpected says something nice acknowledging it, I am over the moon. Anyway, today I am trying something different and feel a bit (alright, totally) nervous about it. It's hard to put yourself out there, especially in a way that is undoubtedly open to vast interpretation. Deep breath. Now that I feel there has been an insane amount of exposition...

I always feel at my best when I am authentic. I remember learning about a person's Achilles heel in my first year of college, how it can be the strongest and weakest part of a person, and it really has remained with me throughout all these years. I believe myself to be an empathetic, sensitive person that relishes making other people happy (of course I have other, more blatant faults, but those I will save for another post, another time). This is both a great aspect in my life and, at times, can imperil my well-being. I used to make a great effort to appear to be what I thought others wanted from me, which of course always back-fired in unpleasant circumstances, to put it kindly. And it took me a long time to realize that I will not be truly satisfied unless I am honest with myself and those around me. Maybe if I had seen these words much earlier and actually understood them, I would have had less strife. Although, I'm grateful for the strife; I feel like it makes what's good that much better in comparison. Because of it, I can fully understand what these words mean and strive to continually apply them to my life.

Annnnd...exhale. That wasn't so bad, was it? Actually, if you'd really want me to just post shoes feel free to let me know! No hurt feelings, I promise.