Embrace It

Intimacy.

This word has some taboo persona attached to its coattails that I have never understood. The definition is close familiarity or friendship. With such a simple definition why do we feel the need to cringe when we hear it?

Our society has plenty of problems and I personally believe they all stem from the misunderstanding of this word both in thought and action. In dating and marriage it is assumed to be solely physical. This is where I think our viewpoints start to steer off the path. Intimacy has so much more depth and meaning if you take the time to treat it with respect in all of its facets.

For now I want to start with intimacy with yourself. Do you have a true friendship with yourself? If you don’t love yourself or even like yourself how do you expect someone to reciprocate? They cannot do the work of 2 people for you. You have to put in effort too. So why not start now? What are you thinking about when you look into the mirror? Are you comfortable going to a restaurant alone? Are you taking risks? Do you believe in your abilities? Let’s be real, I’m just writing this to prove that it is possible to believe in yourself and take risks. How do you build a friendship with yourself?

3 years ago I started going to the gym at 6am with a few friends as a new year’s resolution. It was awful. There is no other way to put it. I hated it. I would look in the mirror every morning and dread what I was about to go do. I looked at my friends and they were lifting more weight, enjoying themselves and loving themselves more. I felt like I was wasting my time. Then one day, over 3 months after starting, I looked in the mirror and smiled at myself. For the first time that year I recognized myself; I recognized my happiness and joy.

All I did was change my mindset. I developed a skill that helped me love myself. I stopped comparing myself to my friends and started comparing yesterday and today. I created a familiarity and a friendship to an activity, which in turn, helped me build a friendship with myself. This opened the doors for me to discover how to do this in more aspects of my life. With heaven as my witness, I still have a long ways to go. However, I would say that coming to understand this has helped me look outward, stay positive, have more compassion, develop a small amount of patience and do my best to love deeper.

Hence, a picture of me with no sleep, on a windy day, facing my fears, no makeup and a blistered nose. Embrace it.