Embrace Yourself

As an avid blog reader, I rarely browse the comments. Bloggers tend to develop “groupies”, who fill the comment section with verbal high fives and redundant “Great post!”. Today I actually read some comments on a blog post, which lead to a comment I wanted to “high-five” to.

“… I tend to be an idealist, always wanting the highs in life, always wanting many other things as well that don’t quite ’stay’. A friend recently spoke to one of my struggles by saying “Leif, you are probably never going to change.” It was hard to hear, a bit of a shocker, but it was so strong and counter to what most people say (and to what I spend my life trying to change) that it was actually strangely liberating. I cried. Wow, I might never change. And yet, I’m still here, still alive, still doing pretty dang good.” - Leif

It doesn’t really matter what the blog post was about. Leif’s comment is simple life applicable to all of us. We all have ideas shaped by ourselves, others, society, religion, and media to which we grant some personality traits as “good” and “bad”. Instead, we should embrace ourselves for who we are - even the “embarrassing” things.

So to Leif, I raise my glass and say “I’ll drink to that, and hug myself too!”.