The hard of life (#988)

Everyday brings something that requires me to resolve myself to standing up for my personal principles. It was scary at first carving out my own identity, since I did not want to offend those close to me or alienate them either. But it really all comes down to this, I cannot be what others want me to be, I must be who I am, without reservation, except that I don't harm myself or anyone else. Discretion is almost always the better part of valor and using that principle helps to me assuage those who are disappointed in how I think and act. I cannot please everyone although that is my hope someday. The reality is that if I am who I want to be and do it with the compassion and happiness, I then feel that has to be good enough. I am an example, like all of us are, and that is what drives me. Not the choices in life I make but the reasoning behind those choices. Acceptance of reality, regardless of whether I agree with reality is the first step toward being myself. I see the world as it is and hope to be the best of who I am within that. It is my hope also that being the best I can be will have a positive effect on that reality I am a part of. I titled this post "The hard of life" because everything that we do requires a cost. Am I willing to pay the cost, whether it be hard feelings or blood, sweat and tears? Nothing is free of effect. The hard in my life is now an established acceptance. I know that with every word or act I emit, there will be consequences. It is just that today those consequences are worth paying from my perspective. I accept who I am and what I do as the best way to be me with the full knowledge of how that cost will appear. I am surprised sometimes when unexpected agreement with me occurs but that is not rule, it is more the exception. Such is the hard in my life.