The Power of Understanding

I would have always described myself as an empath in that I feel deeply for the people around me. I've done a ton of volunteer work supporting impoverished places and individuals. Seeing an entire community living in boxes without clean water humbles you. However, my most humbling moment was the day after my mom passed. I went to Publix, and in my time wandering around the store, it genuinely felt like I had a wooden plaque on my forehead printed, "My Mom just Died."

My world had stopped, but the one around me simply kept spinning. I found myself pondering all the times I had walked past individuals who could've been living out the worst day of their life.

However, I still carried a weight of prejudice and judgment around even then.

Prior to my mother passing away, I was extremely religious, and while it was good at the time, I look back now and see how manipulated I was into believing certain things were good or bad. Christianity instilled this mindset into me that if people didn't follow specific rules and guidelines, they were sinners. I was even persuaded to wear a purity ring at one point... I believed that we are evil without God.

I'm not here to have any kind of debate. By the time you read this post in its entirety, you'll realize I don't care what you choose to believe as long as it brings you joy and fulfills your heart. I only can speak from my personal experiences.

Ironically, after distancing myself from those solid religious beliefs, the infamous 2020 election rolled around. 

The few people I associated with at the time were pretty strong-minded about their political beliefs, and I was not. So, naturally, for my first election, I was eligible to vote in. I was swept up into becoming what I thought at the time was an all-people-loving and kind individual, but in actuality, I just hated people who didn't have the same opinions as myself. I could throw up just thinking about how obnoxious I was on social media. I really thought I was doing something.

So here we are, several months into reflection. I've distanced myself from narrow-minded individuals, and I am off of Instagram and Facebook till further notice. I currently have no extreme belief systems. 

How did I end up here? I stopped talking and started listening. I started hearing stories about pasts and experiences I had never heard. I stopped making assumptions about people before they even opened their mouths. I stopped thinking that there could only be one right way. 

I've found that not one individual has it all figured out. No pope or politician, or supermodel or teacher, or scientist or doctor. No one has all the answers to life because we all are experiencing it so uniquely. Take the time to look around you when you're in a public setting and just imagine all the different stories and lives wandering around you. You simply never know what is occurring in the seven billion other lives simultaneously happening at the same time as yours, and I think that's just beautiful. 

Humanity is complex, remarkable, and unknowing. You don't have to have lived the exact same life as someone to understand their beliefs or circumstances; you just have to listen and open your heart.