The internet gives people the opportunity to be anyone that they want to be. They can get on social media with a fake picture and a fake name and they can lie about who they are when they meet people online. I admit that I don’t really understand it.
I might have hated my life at some points, but I never thought about being someone else. I didn’t think I could be someone else. My mother treated me like I was an extension of her and not a real person on my own. If you don’t feel like you are a complete person, then the idea of being someone else doesn’t even enter your mind. How can it?
Once I began to understand that I could free myself from the codependency that my mother had created, I felt like I was a complete person. Today I know I am an individual. My feelings, thoughts, emotions, etc., belong to me. It’s okay to be me. My mother acted all my life like asserting my individuality was some kind of betrayal that meant I didn’t love her enough and that I was ungrateful for all the sacrifices that she made as my mother. No parent would want their child to not be complete or to feel guilty or scared to be themselves.
I found the strength and courage to finally embrace who I am, and it means so much to be me. I can’t imagine pretending to be someone else. I don’t want to ever pretend or lie about who I am because finding myself and having the courage to understand how precious a gift that is took so long that I just can’t imagine not showing the world this gift from God.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
