You're Fantastic!

You can't appreciate how much you've grown, 

Once you've forgotten the ground."

 -Lacey Roop: The Gravity of Stars 

(which happens to be on my blog already, here: http://the-things-that-really-matter.blogspot.com.au/p/support.html)

Today I'm talking about growth and healing, and how sometimes we need to remind ourselves just how fantastic we are! There has been a reoccurring theme in my life lately of remembering how far you've come and using that to motivate yourself to keep going, and to feel some pride in who you are. 

I consider myself a part of a certain community, where healing from things is the main topic of conversation and the goal of everyone there. Bettering yourself, bettering your life, bettering your attitudes is something we all strive for. Recently a friend from that community wrote about how she has changed in recent years, and how much she loves those changes! She talked about how much she liked certain new aspects of herself that wouldn't have been there if her life hadn't gone a certain way. She mentioned things she still isn't as confident about, but that all of it - the good bits and the not-as-good bits - are all a part of her, and that the whole is something to be proud of, something to love. And I agree! She's one of the most unique, compassionate and strongest people I've come across and I'm truly happy she's found these strengths in herself!

 "I'm a completely different person. And I love it...I respect myself more. I am completely and utterly floored by this realisation. And overjoyed...I hope you guys get here too one day, if you aren't. It's great! Don't despair, as I did, because it will happen. For those of you who are already there - I am glad to finally join you!"

I've also thought about this in relation to myself. I've thought about how far I've come in learning to live with and handle the illnesses I have. Having said that, I'm not as great now as I was around January last year - but I'm a long ways from being too exhausted to do anything other than shower and move from my room to the couch; I'm a lot better than when I was the day I walked from my car to the door of a shopping centre and had to sit for a few minutes to stop myself from fainting. 

Illnesses aside, I've changed in other ways from other things, too. There were some major events in my life last year and even now, just a few months later, I can already think of things that are better, things that are just a tiny bit easier. They're small changes, but they're there. 

Within that aforementioned community, someone else was talking about a hopeless feeling of never progressing, never moving forward. That old idea that as soon as you move a few inches, a huge wave comes and pulls you back to where you started. I suggested she write down what things are like in detail now, then store that somewhere she won't really look for a few months or even a year. Then in time write a new version and compare the two. Lately I've been thinking I should follow my own advice :P Like the quote I began with says, it's awful hard to see how far you've come if you forget where you started. 

This ties into so many things. People talk about racism, sexism, discrimination: yes, it's bad. Yes, we need to make changes. But it used to be worse. Enough people are seeing how wrong things are and joining together to make those changes. People's attitudes are changing, people's ideas of what our society should be like are changing, people are starting to see where we've gone wrong in the past and how we should fix it for the future. And I for one have so much hope for our future. I have a lot of hope in the shifts being made by feminists and equality activists. I have a lot of hope for changing rape culture, and for people getting on board with letting everyone love whoever they want to love. There's reason to hope for more people standing up for others, even when they don't have to. 

Hope isn't enough though if we're not active in making what we hope for happen. I'd really like to get a lot more involved by volunteering (particularly at a women's shelter), and by being more active at uni - just as soon as I figure out how and where :P It's not just about volunteering though. Change happens when we live every day in the way we want the future to pan out.