The Hot Breath of Conformity

How many times in life have you been expected to change-it-up a notch?

To bring it on? Get it done — make it happen. Handle it. Get over it. Essentially, to be someone or somewhere that you are not …

A pressure builds in you. You twist yourself into pretzel positions to conform to a standard. You hang out in that oven and cook!

Conformity’s hot breath … blasting right down your neck.

You do it this way because that’s how it’s always been done, am I right?

You take on the stress of a weighty burden. Believing you’re ‘not enough’. Fearful that you’re not making the grade — that you just don’t measure up. Likely falling short of some invisible finish line, you concede the possibility of ever breaking through.

You ask yourself, “if I were good enough, surely I’d be up to this task of doing it right?”

Yes?

Hell no.

Who the heck’s standard IS this anyway? And WHY should it apply to you?

I invite you to ask yourself a very different question. What if: I am always exactly where I am meant to be at precisely the moment that I am there?

How does that feel …? Please take a moment to check it out. Not, ‘what do I think about it’ (do I agree/disagree), but how does it feel to me?

Within my body. To my emotions and in my heart?

Always enough …
Who you are. Where you are.
As you are.

What if it were really true that you are always enough? Who you are. Where you are. As you are.

Right on time.

In the simplest of terms, this is Self‑Respect. You stand in solidarity with yourself and your life. Exhibiting the highest courage. The deepest love.

Life-changing revolution. Sweet breath, in and out.

Exactly as you are. Cool, calm, refreshed … that oppressive heat has quieted.

What you want
Baby, I got it
What you need
Do you know I got it?
All I’m askin’
Is for a little respect when you get home

“Respect”, by Aretha Franklin