I can't help

Watching the film Crazy Rich Asians is always so intense to watch. I think I’m going to use here to grieve. Little by little. Or to help reshape and reform my thoughts.

This was one of the first films we watched together and where I started to learn to feel comfortable with someone. Most specifically, with being outwardly emotional and allowing myself to cry.

I’ve come to learn that self-soothing techniques used while I was growing up have me realizing that my learning to self-soothe planted the seed of toxic independence. I can cry on my own and settle these emotions on my own, so why should I open up and share them. I take care of and handle me.

Which, is a terrible thought process by the way. But it’s how I came to handle and think of my emotions. And now, I’m unlearning and relearning. To love myself and share myself with me, sitting side by side with my emotions and asking them what their needs are.

Do you want to know the worst part? Now that I’ve needed to move into healing instead of hurting, being honest with myself, I can’t imagine my life without him in it. It may not be romantic or with a ring on each of our fingers, but I have not loved anyone as deeply or unconditionally as I did/do Waldemar. And now that I’m being honest with myself, I’ve come to learn even more after the relationship than I did in it.

Love is a force I cannot control, and I’d be a fool to think I could, so all I can do is admit how much I do love him. Does that make it toxic, does that make it healthy? I’ve no fucking idea, but it’s where I’m at and no more am I going to be complacent and unconscious.

Conscious.

Realizing how deep, buried emotion being released is transcendent and brutal.

I’m unsure of what came over me last week. Was it my hyper-awareness of self or was this a chemical imbalance that altered the intensity of response? For the first time, in an extensively long time, I was flooded with emotion. And I truly mean, flooded. For the course of a few days, a very deep earthquake happened within me and rattled my core. My body responded appropriately by breaking down into tears and grieving.

Revelations have been occurring much more frequently as I’m beginning to become more mentally present.

“Why Buddhism Is True” is a book I’m currently going through and the teachings behind being present and the awareness of self and not-self and the contradictory statements that limit our means of expression/understanding are fucking with my thoughts. I’m readily confused, but I’m intrigued.

Insecurities

As of late, I’ve had to sit with myself and honestly reflect on me. Who I am, what I want, all those introspective questions. And truly, I don’t feel I have the appropriate answer to any of those questions.

I’m working on figuring a lot of that out. But today I stumbled upon a video that essentially discussed the inner genuine question. What do I reject about myself? Which as a baseline is self-rejection.

What about me do I not really love that I keep in the shadows?

One of the things I truly keep in the shadows is my body dysmorphia. I have a lot of self-esteem issues and lack of self-confidence when it comes to my body. Even though I have never been rejected for my body, I don’t always have the kindest eyes when I’m looking at myself. I hide my sexuality and I keep it internal, when at it’s core. Sexuality is exploration with the internal self and external desires.

That’s what I’m afraid of.

Which, I think that’s what I’m going to start addressing.

And photographing. Because I deserve it and want it.