In Search of Lost Burdens

As a child, I always felt insignificant, excluded, and experienced issues of poor self confidence

I felt ill-equipped, overly anxious and unsure of myself and my place in the world, which was as much a byproduct of an overactive mind as of anything real or concrete

I doubted myself, worried about belonging, about being interesting and important and cool (didn’t we all?)

Now and again, I encounter situations that remind me of these feelings, remind me of this feeling of ill-belonging

It is interesting how we can feel a feeling, like remembering a memory, retrieving something involuntarily from the past, which we didn’t necessarily want to re-experience

But we do have some power here, too: some choice, if we recognize it our ability to overcome. We can avoid these situations, the circumstances that recall these moments, and avoid placing ourselves at the mercy of that which compels us to feel negatively while becoming stronger ourselves as we see what burdens us still, even years after