I don’t want to be sad anymore.

I heard Steve Harvey talk about how you should purchase a first-class ticket on an airplane. He said you’ll realize how much better it is in first class. Then it will be really difficult to ever go back to coach again. And your brain will then start thinking creatively in order earn the money to pay for first class next time.

I also heard another gentleman talk about how he doesn’t want to be the bigger person anymore. In the sense that if he is ALWAYS being the bigger person then it might mean that he is hanging around too many small-minded people.

I can relate.

There is helping people who are actually doing something with their lives. And then there is trying to drag people to healing who have no desire yet to change. They are comfortable in their misery. They have owned it, sat down, and setup shop in their shit. Decorated it and everything.

Those people might parrot back to you what they think you want to hear. Maybe to try to get you to keep giving them something. But if you try to hold them accountable, be prepared for their fangs and claws to come for you.

I did a good thing yesterday. I said no. To hanging out with a group of people that include at least one person that I genuinely care about but who has ignored me for years. With no explanation. Even when I reached out to them this year. Yet again.

No, not going to put myself through that unnecessary hell. When my time could be better spent loving myself. Or investing in people that will show their appreciation for my efforts. I’m not talking worship; just basic respect.

I remind myself that if these people were offered a million dollars, they’d get it together to show up and claim it. Or if it was their favorite person, they’d make the effort. They wouldn’t put on the clueless act then. They’d suddenly be able to get it together then. So yeah, no excuses.

My problem is that I was listening to people’s words versus their actions. The words of some reach out to me maybe once a year. Acting like nothing. Like there is no big pink elephant in the middle of the room. But their actions say they checked out long, long ago.

And that is really okay. Sad, but okay. I’d rather accept it and move on. Than do what I unsuccessfully attempted for decades: hold onto the potential I see in them and encourage them to go where they don’t want or are not ready to go. Instead of parting in peace and investing my energy elsewhere.

I heard something a few days ago that messed with me in a good way. I heard that sometimes we pursue people in a way where we are basically looking to hire someone to love us. As in, we attempt to outsource self-love. Instead of taking the time to care for ourselves, we try to find people who will care for us.

That isn’t to say we shouldn’t surround ourselves with people who love and respect us.

But I think many of us were not given permission to be ourselves for so long that we forgot how to do that. We were treated as a part in other people’s lives for so long that we lost ourselves. Or never even had a chance to become someone.

Even churches, employers, governments. Some, maybe even many, want to strip you. They value control and conformity over trust, respect, and freedom. I’m sure there is a time and place for certain standards. But how many times does it go too far?

And then the poison keeps getting passed on. One to the other. Just to feel like you’re not alone. Just to try to quiet the sickening dissonance eating away from the inside. You think you’ll break if you didn’t have your distractions to pacify you.

I say it quickly, but these are not little things. Maybe this is a big part in the everything.

And I’m learning that people probably need to be met where they are. Not where we want them to be.

Even with myself included. Where am I?

The person who berates and dismisses me for what they see as me not trying to lose weight. Sure, it might look that way from the outside. But you have no idea what I’ve been through. You have no idea what all this weight means to me. What it protects me from. How it serves me.

Until it won’t. Until it doesn’t. Until something else serves me better. Education. Equipped. Processed. Etc. Etc. Etc.

So I have to be patient with others. Even if I don’t participate in what they do that is hurtful. I am able to forgive when I think of it that way.

But I don’t have to save anyone anymore. That was the problem before. Instead of knowing I could relax and take care of me, I thought the only option was taking care of them so they’d hopefully take care of me.

Good fences make good neighbors. Now I can tell you no and take care of myself. And let you have a problem with that or not. Because finally I understand and trust you belong to God, not me.

Before, I had an impotent god whose hands were tied. He depended on me to get the jobs done. And it was on me if I dropped the ball.

Now, I believe in greater Love. That is not wringing hands and hoping we get it right. No.

This real Love meets me right where I’m at and invites me. To rest. To eat and be full. To enter healing. With no judgement and no condemnation. Not ever giving up.

So I don’t have to try to be Jesus to anyone. I can just tell them what I have known and experienced. I can just extend the invitation to them. To see for themselves.

And then I can go on living my life. Filling my own cup. So that yes, in true real gratitude, I will even have to give. With no strings attached.

Their knower will recognize the difference. The shift.

So I don’t want to be sad anymore. I am no longer glorifying suffering and misery across the board without any qualifications. No longer deifying everyone who chooses to martyr themselves for any old thing. Exclaiming how wonderful they are to endure so much pain. For what? Is it even necessary? Or best?

No, no longer. What is the mission? What are we here for?

What if real Life looks a lot more fun? Why were we never encouraged to considered that? Could there have been people who benefited from us staying small? From us not realizing how much there is waiting for us to step into?