Where My Value Lives

Cultivating self-love, self-respect, and self-worth has been such an empowering part of my journey. I've learned that the more my value stems from within, the less impactful the opinions and judgments of others feel. I'm not immune to them of course. We are a communal species and to some degree I feel it's important I care how my words and actions impact others, especially those I love; yet I can also face rejection, feedback, and criticism now better than I could before because I won't reject me and I know that the people who are meant to be in my life won't either. I know that criticism and feedback help me grow – that I can't get stronger without resistance. Cultivating that inner trust in my own wings is a gift I would give everyone, with their own wings, if I could.

For some, these may feel like wishy-washy words, yet if you knew the decades I spent drowning in self-contempt (which I can see now was rooted in trauma), you'd understand how phenomenal it is for me to be able to type this.

These days a lot of posts have been coming up in Facebook memories from 2021 when I was early on in being detained under British Columbia (B.C.) Canada's Mental Health Act. I'm so grateful I never gave up on believing I could do better without drugs, alcohol, or psychiatric medications in my system. Despite the push-back and trauma I incurred from that detainment (which I still don't agree with), I'm grateful I never gave up on the journey I set out on in 2019.

I don't know what the future holds, yet as the years wear on my foundation feels more and more steady. Yes, I still have ups and downs (I'm human). My health continues to be my greatest priority, as when I wasn't prioritizing it in the way I am now, I couldn't function at all. I'm grateful, however, to feel firmly rooted in both the earth and the skies–continuously learning how to navigate both (what I call) Shared Reality & Wonderland.

~Amy Frank

Meme Author/Artist/Creator Unknown ❤️

This blog was inspired by this quote.