Pain is a Choice... (Read Time: 2 min.)

Everyone has the need for self-expression, to be, in this world, who they were really meant to be. It doesn't matter how long it takes or how many relationships one has to go through, at some point, everyone steps out on their own... to deal with their own stuff.

I wonder why, in many circumstances, people view individuality as a selfish exertion of will. Who I am in no way challenges who you are. Who you'd like to be in no way informs who I CHOOSE to be so why do so many people get offended and uptight at each other when people don't act or behave the way they expected them to?

More than that, why do some people, who find themselves threatened by the individuality of another, become cruel? Do they believe that cruelty creates fondness?

The truth is that we each live in our worlds with sets and characters and storylines WE wrote. At any moment, we can flip the script. In a heartbeat, circumstances open our eyes to new and different ways of living. To blame someone for experiencing life in their own way is like blaming someone for breathing: what's the point? Breath has to happen. Life has to happen. People are entitled to their own choices.

The thing that is most moving about life is our ability to choose. We don't have to live in the blame/shame/guilt game. We don't have to arm ourselves with fake senses of self and self-righteous superiority or victim thinking that would rather fault someone else for being who they are than taking responsibility for who you've decided to become.

Hurting people hurt people but they don't have to. Like love, pain is a CHOICE...