Get Out of Your (s)Hell by Being Who You Are

Life isn’t about rewards. It’s about being who you are. But if you still want a really great reward in life, look at it this way: Be who you are and allow other people to be who they are. There’s no greater reward for we humans than being exactly who God made each of us to be.

Stop existing in the hollow shell of who you “should” be. Many people are stuck there. They spend a lifetime hiding inside the false shell of you “should be” a good boy or good girl. This shell requires that you deny your dark side. Family, society and church created this shell (remove the “s” and notice that the word becomes “hell”). They decided who you “should” be. Then they told you how to act, what to wear, what to say, what to believe, who to trust, etc. And they often used fear, guilt and shame to coerce you into conformity with their will.

As adults, we have to grow beyond this (s)hell. We have to take responsibility for our lives. We have to decide what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable—for us. This means we need to work at accepting our dark sides by bringing them into some sort of balance with our light sides. Balance requires that we explore and embrace our dark sides; learn from them all they have to teach us about the “real” us; and then take that knowledge and integrate it into being the completeness of who we truly are.

Life is constantly changes and we need to change with it. We need to grow beyond our childhood (s)hells by growing into the completeness of who God created us to be. Growth requires risk taking. We have to learn to think outside of the (s)hell we’ve been comfortable in. We need to try new things, especially those things we have always had a deep curiosity about or passion for, but were too afraid to try. If we’ve been afraid of dipping our toes in water, maybe we need to jump in feet first, laugh and splash about with total freedom. If we’ve been afraid to travel and open-up to the completeness of the world, maybe we need to spread our wings and meet life at its many doors. Or if we’ve been afraid to strut our stuff at work, maybe we need to open up, express our creative ideas and tell others to move over—we want part of the limelight now.

Express yourself. Express your “true” self, that is. Flaunt your perfections and imperfections. Embrace those who embrace you and let the rest of the world go on spinning as it chooses. It’s better to know who loves you for the “real” you. And it’s better to know it NOW. Those who loved the “fake” you may attempt to guilt and shame you into going back inside your (s)hell, but that’s OK. Treat them with compassion. Pray for them and for others who also choose to remain in their (s)hell. And if these (s)hell people choose to cut you off for being the “real” you, allow them to do so. Allow them to go be forever “fake” with someone else. The real loss will be theirs, not yours.

Embrace your Higher Power. Embrace your dark and light sides. Find balance. Be yourself. Express yourself. And allow your soul to shine!