Words: My Top Ten Realizations After One Year of Awareness

I’ll never forget Sunday, Oct. 5, 2014. My eyes bolted open from sleep. The words My God, they are against me, cycled through my brain. Memories played out in a backwards reel: Christmas 2013, France 2005, wedding day 1996, 16th birthday 1987, a broken collarbone 1975.

I had THE AWAKENING I needed, the one I feared most: My family is against me. From this perspective, my life suddenly made sense. Emotional abuse. Neglect. Why hadn’t I seen the collective significance of these events sooner? Each experience was a pearl on the necklace of emotional corrosion. Through the years, the more I resisted its presence, the tighter the necklace squeezed life from me.

I know now that denial and dignity have a very tight grasp on each other. I’ve learned other things as well. Whether or not you’ve experienced abuse in your life, the universal elements of my experience transcend to every person on the planet. I’m happy to share with you:

MY TOP TEN REALIZATIONS AFTER ONE YEAR OF AWARENESS

1. The power of voice is a gift you give yourself.
2. Fear is a four-letter word that can go %$#* itself.
3. Most people are wounded. Most people aren’t doctors. Nobody is required to heal anyone.
4. Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself. Even if no one else does.
5. God empowers. He lets you scream at the ones who’ve hurt you. Then, you forgive them. (Forgiveness does not mean tolerance.)
6. Awareness is like mercury, it forms into small balls and rolls all over.
7. Ignorance is like mercury, it forms into small balls and rolls all over.
8. Ego is best served like chilled Jell-O: jiggly and resilient to tremors. Otherwise, it stains your shirt.
9. Mirrors work best when clean.
10. Life is too short for pain. Don’t take it. Just don’t take it.

Sincerely and with love,

Barbie