Shame Feels Like A Dirty Secret
May 11, 2020
This morning I was thinking about all of the things I’ve felt shame for throughout my life and the one thing they all had in common: they lived in the dark.
You didn’t talk about them. You didn’t see them. You didn’t share them. You didn’t dare show them.
I’ve also experienced freedom from shame. Each experience different from the last.
But they too had all one thing in common: I broke free of it when brought into the light.
When you could talk about them. When you could see them. When you could share them. When you could show them.
Shame feels like a dirty secret. Something you wish to hide. It causes stress as you manipulate your life around it, hiding it, trying to keep it in the dark.
And this shame is not about right and wrong. It’s about us. It’s about who we are.
Freedom from that shame showed me that many of the secrets held captive in the dark were not dirty, ugly or wrong after all, not even a little bit. Rather, they were beautiful, normal, sometimes unique, and often all too common.
Side effects of this wonderful, hilarious, often trying circumstance that we call life.
I’m sharing this image with you because this is the angle that brought me the most shame.
It’s caused me stress. It’s caused me to manipulate my life around it by what I wear, how I position my body in everyday tasks, intimacy, and more.
So I wish to free it from the dark.
To talk about it.
To see it.
To share it.
To show it.
To stand up tall, and let it be light.
