We wait for a special occasion or a corporate campaign to start talking about things that eat us up inside. Or maybe they don’t eat us up anymore but just weigh us down and distort our happiness. Why do we wait so long? Why are we not more open about who we are and share with those that want to listen about where we’ve been and all the scars that we have?

I think we’re afraid that none of that is important. I think we’re afraid that our suffering really didn’t matter, that we were lucky getting through, and that we better not talk about it, lest those things that haunt us return unexpectedly and uninvitingly. But there is nothing to be afraid of. You can be so close to someone, yet be so far removed from what they are feeling and thinking. As a human race we have leaned to fly and we are beginning to explore our vast universe, but yet the most insurmountable distance seems to be between two human hearts.

But why not become an open book? Where is the need to protect yourself and shield yourself from the gaze and stares of other people? Who are they to you? Why do they matter? Why hide and continue to carry the burdens of your past alone, when there is no need?

Become an open book.

Maybe not overnight. That might be a touch scary and intimidating, but why not start to be open about who you are, where you have been, and most of all, about your desires, your dreams, and where you want to go. There is much life to be lived yet. There are many things you can still be and do. It is not over. You are never stuck. You are never finished. Continue making plans. Continue working hard. Continue living and being that amazing person you know yourself to be.

But open up a little and eventually open up a lot. Don’t wait to be invited or to be chosen. It’s your turn. It is always your turn. There are no special occasion, and all the corporate mental illness awareness campaigns only act as a reminder. They are not an invitation. Today. This very moment is an invitation.

Share who you are with those who love you and want to listen. Talk to them. Don’t hide yourself away. Save that for your enemies and the grumpy people.

Don’t be afraid to be naked. Maybe not in public as there are laws, but realize that we live in a society that freaks out over seeing nipples. Such a cute word, nipples, and there are so many people deathly afraid of them. They are not afraid of guns, or heart disease, or cancer, but they are deeply fearful of running into an unsuspecting nipple, and a female nipple at that!

On instagram, there was a woman who photoshopped her own nipples with that of a man, and her photo was allowed to remain unscathed. We live in truly bizarre times, which is why you should not be afraid of being naked. In private of course, unless you have kinks I am not aware of, but that is for another day.

Become an open book. Don’t hide your life with any stitch of clothing. You have scars, and bruises, and inner pain that you are not meant to shoulder alone. Let it out. Learn to let it go, because if you don’t how will you find room for all the beauty and wonderment that is so desperately waiting to make your acquaintance?

 

Cover photo generously provided by photographer Charles Deluvio via unsplash.com