The Shame Game

Before I had been diagnosed with herpes, I didn’t realize how lost I was in my own life.

Everything I was doing was based on how the world told me to live, was focused on the glamorization of sin (although I didn’t use that language at the time), and the complete disintegration of all aspects of myself.

It was hearing things around me like:

“You need to explore your body to know what you like.”

“It’s what people do.”

“That’s normal.” (For things that should not be normal.)

But it was also …

I remember once hearing that we never actually see ourselves, only reflections of ourselves through mirrors. It’s everyone else who sees us with the most accuracy, because it’s reality versus a reflection.

The opposite of that is also true too: no one who sees us ever actually knows all of us, only the appearance we project on the outside. It’s us who understands our inside world with the most accuracy, because it’s reflection versus a reality.

So, it is wild to think—if we can’t see ourselves…