14. The Beauty of Harsh Truths
The greatest blessing and a catalyst to overcoming roadblocks if you’re lucky enough to receive them, and humble enough to act on them.
“Quick to learn” was a soft skill I used to put on my resume for a while, thinking it applied to the way I’m able to pick up concepts and apply them very quickly after being taught. Only after the experiences I went through after I had my daughter I realized that this was being “smart”. Being teachable requires an emotional maturity that I quickly realized I lacked, but fought desperately to gain. Thank God — I think I’m getting the hang of it.
The advice you usually take is the one that most deeply resonates with what you believe is right. But how about the advice that most strongly clashes with your sense of being, that raises your defenses and breaks apart your logic and reasoning which until then seemed flawless. Particularly when, in the midst of this dissonance, a small voice confirms that you know they’re right?
Do yourself a favor — no matter how painful it may be, listen to that voice.
I’ve mentioned the strength of my support network before, but in this case, I have to brag on the wealth of wisdom that I’m surrounded by. Genuine love and compassion are just a phone call away, and I’ve been able to get through some of the hardest points of my life because of their love for me and the way that they have helped me see the direction I’m being called to walk in.
But one of the ways their love has consistently been shown is in the way that I can honestly say each of my close friends and family have honored my request to tell me the harsh truths and the dissonant wisdom — the things they and I both know hurt to hear, making it even harder to say. But they say them, and the love I feel because of it has finally outmatched the pain from hearing it.
This is a time of celebration for me. When I first realized how much I needed to not only hear these harsh truths, I started asking for them, begging anyone who cared for them. But it’s taken time to accept them, and I am so grateful to say that I believe I can — and have — finally follow them.
My confidence in myself to move forward on this journey has quadrupled. Not because of any specific skill that I personally have, but that I know that I have been given the wisdom both within and without to take the leaps needed to turn this idea into a reality, and my life into a blessing.
