When Reality Becomes Real

"Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it ...- Og Mandino


I wrote a post a year or so ago about denial, which begs repeating. Why is it so hard to convince ourselves of things about people that are so obvious and right in front of our faces? Why is it so difficult to tell yourself that, yes, people can be selfish. I've always wanted to be someone who sees the best in people, even when that "best" is clearly something that I've imagined. Obviously, this hurts more than it helps.

Denying reality because you want to hope that someone is better than s/he is never works. Sooner or later, often when it hurts more, you finally realize the truth.

The truth being:
- that not everyone is worth second, third and tenth chances.
- that history does (and will) repeat itself.
- that you can't do the same thing more than once and expect different results (see above).
- that things do get better once you accept things for what they are (not what you want them to be/hope they can be/perceive them to be) and decide to move forward.

... which reminds me of another great quote: "Don't make someone a priority who sees you as an option."

Don't let someone think that you deserve less than you do. Don't let someone convince you that you are worth less than you are. Slowly pulling off a band-aid causes more pain in the end than accepting that it will hurt and letting it all go at once, once and for all.

And now I am done with truisms and metaphors.