When Was the Last Time You Truly Embraced Yourself?

Have you ever paused to feel satisfied with your whole self—your strengths, your flaws, your complexity?

Growing up takes emotional courage.
But for many of us, emotional maturity gets interrupted by patterns we develop to protect ourselves.
Over time, those protective patterns become familiar… comforting, even.
So much so, we may not realize they’re holding us back.

Early Disappointments Shape Our Outlook

The lens through which we view the world is shaped early in life.

What if that lens was built around disappointment?
Around caution, skepticism, or fear of things not lasting?

You may find yourself stuck in a repeating cycle:
When life begins to feel good, you unconsciously anticipate that it’s too good to be true.
So what do you do?

You create the ending yourself—before life can disappoint you.

A Common Example: Sabotaging Relationships

Imagine you’re in a healthy, loving relationship.
Six months in, things are going well.

But you start feeling uncomfortable.
Unfamiliar with this level of ease, your mind begins crafting stories:
“Is this really what I want?”
“Something must be off…”
“I’m not sure this is working.”

Instead of exploring those doubts with care, you pull away.
You flee.
Or worse, you sabotage.

All because you’re trying to protect yourself from a potential disappointment that hasn’t even arrived.

So What’s the Way Through?

Ask yourself:

  • Where did I first learn that good things don’t last?

  • What role has fear of disappointment played in my past?

  • What am I protecting myself from?

You can’t change your past, but you can become aware of the beliefs you carry from it.
And in that awareness, you begin to shift.

Reclaiming Joy, One Choice at a Time

You don’t have unlimited time. None of us do.
So ask yourself:

  • How do I want to live with the time I do have?

  • What if I met joy with openness instead of fear?

  • What if I stopped cutting things short just to avoid being hurt?

Letting life unfold without scripting the end is risky—yes.
But it’s also freeing.
Because you’re not here to avoid disappointment.

You’re here to live.

Other Reads:

More about my offerings on this link.

About mindfulness on this link.

Learn more about healing your inner child on this link.

External Resources:

Zen & Engaged Buddhism:

Plum Village 

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