I mentioned that I didn’t want to go to public school, but I now think my parents were wise in enrolling me in one. I had been pretty sheltered prior to public school. I had been raised and living in this little bubble that popped pretty quickly. I became more empathic of what others were going through. I learned about the importance of diversity. I also did a program that really pushed me to work hard and prepared me for college. 

When we’re continually letting ourselves get worked up about someone or something, it’s impacting our physical health. Our blood pressure is high, and the chemicals released with being angry can have lasting effects. There is an increased risk of heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, fatigue, and some autoimmune disorders (Before forgiving - the effect of anger and resentment on the body, 2014). 

The sad part is that I couldn’t even see the lie I was being fed. After all, I was pretty close to being china! (which begs the question, could ceramic even become china or were these identities immutable?) We were taught to compare ourselves to objects. Objects made to be used by another person and then put away until they needed to be used again.

We all have fears we would rather not name and face. Part of being human includes learning that the only way to prevent our fears from controlling/shaping us is to face them. To sit with them. Many times facing our fears means realizing there may actually be a small piece of truth in it but with part of the picture that we haven’t seen before. 

Two months ago I wrote a letter. I wrote it exactly as I would have from my deathbed... except that I wasn't on my deathbed and that was the entire point. Movies really love to dramatize those end-of-life-bucket-list-final-hurrah moments but the truth is that if I really was on my deathbed I'd probably be so exhausted and busy with the work of ACTUALLY dying that writing such a letter would be ten times harder, if not impossible. So, better to do it now.

I once had someone compare the past to a car’s rearview mirror. They said, “You can’t drive forward while looking in the rearview mirror the entire time. The rearview mirror is important. You need to check what’s behind you, but you can only drive safely forward by looking through the windshield.”

If you live in today’s modern world, you have experienced desensitization. Most likely, you had no idea it was happening. At this point in people’s lives, it is part of their past - a thing that happened in their childhood and continues to happen daily. It grew monumentally with the growth of technology. It started hitting stages of adolescence when the Millennial generation was young. What’s the main form of desensitizing today? Social media.