#optimysticsa

[optimysticsa]

The Freedom to be You

The fear of rejection and being ostracized is something I think we all battle with at some point in our lives.

Being authentically you is freeing, it’s not always easy though.

We are socialized from young to believe that how we look, talk, dress, what we can and can’t say, think and believe are what gives us value.

At 49, I truly have recently become comfortable enough in my own uniqueness to…

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[optimysticsa]

Be Real

I really only know how to be me. I don’t know how to change the way I speak, think and feel to be like someone else anymore. I think I used to be able to do that – mimic to fit in.

I watch, listen and read people having deep, esoterically, intellectual conversations that sound meaningful and arty but are full of oozy woozy pop psychology couched in particular elitist phrases like code words that…

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[optimysticsa]

I Get It

I get why people give up. I do. I get why people just keep their blinkers on and carry on like nothing is going on around them. I get that. I do. I get why fake is cool and real is shunned. I get that when people drop you at the first sign of difficulty it’s hard to swallow. I really get all of that. I get that carrying on when everything just seems so pointless is not an easy choice. I get that.

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[optimysticsa]

One more...

One more…

I have been contemplating life, love, purpose – probably because birthdays have that effect on you. I asked myself, on the brink of the big 50, am I any nearer to understanding the why and what for of life?

I wish I had some heavily wise, existential tidbit that I could throw out and leave you gobsmacked and awed – but I don’t.

Here is what I do have:

EveryI have been contemplating life, love,…

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[optimysticsa]

Don't Settle for Safe

Don’t Settle for Safe

Safe is good. Right?

Yes! We need to be safe – especially here in South Africa. Safe from crime. Safe in our homes and work places.

This post isn’t about that kind of safe.

I am talking about intellectual safety and emotional safety. I am talking about getting caught in a web of comfortably safe thoughts and feelings – negative or positive – that actually imprison us.

Stuck in a mediocre life,…

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[optimysticsa]

It's Messy, It's life

It’s Messy, It’s life

I have learned so much over the last few years journeying to healing.

I have learned (painfully) to be more open minded and less judgemental.

I have learned about selflessness and its rewards.

I have learned that although we don’t all have the same values we all just want to be happy.

I have learned the value of communication and not to expect others to have the same understanding of things like…

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[optimysticsa]

Give In, Give Up or Give it your All

At the end of the day these are your choices. You can give in, you can give up or you can give it your all.

At different times in life I think we have all chosen one of the three…

Give in because we are tired of trying to follow our truth. Sometimes it just seems easier to run along with every one else because it’s popular and easier… simpler.

Give up because maybe it’s up just too hard. The…

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[optimysticsa]

Unraveling "The Tale"

Unraveling “The Tale”

“The Tale” is a brave and hardhitting depiction of the complexity of child sexual abuse and the stuggle to come to terms with it.

There was, most definitely a spider web connection to the story teĺler. Yes, we are all story tellers… my story is different yet the same.

I think I connected most with Jennifer Fox’s clear portrayal of childhood invisibility. The manipulation of thought. How abusers…

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