Reflections Before Bedtime #19

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Sometimes in life, we make the mistake of thinking that people will have to come around to respecting and accepting us and our ways of thought. It doesn’t always happen, obviously. We know this, but it stings a little when it unfolds in real life. People owe us nothing, and best of all, we owe them nothing, either.

Not all people are meant to stay in our lives. Some people should fade, and fade into the background quickly. Others come closer until we can almost hear their heartbeat pounding in our heads.

In life, we sometimes reach a point where people’s tentacles are wrapped tightly around our arms. Someone wise once said that life is movement. There comes a time where we must pry off the things and people holding us captive. We often don’t even know how we got there in the first place.

We often forget that what people think and say is a reflection of who they are, not a reflection of us and who we are.

It is time to remember: too many people around you can suffocate you; if you are being genuine, it doesn’t matter what others think about that; only you can lock yourself in the prison of other’s opinions and expectations; and respect is to be given, but like with much that is given, you should give expecting nothing in return.

The only opinion that matters is God’s opinion. People don’t own you. You decide where you belong and what matters.

God gives us freedom, and we shouldn’t give that to anyone. Be free. Live. Move.

The ones who aren’t around you for the right reasons, the ones who want you to be who they want you to be will fade, and the ones that matter and respect you will stay.

I am free, free like the sea… and despite what others may think, sometimes, I am not right, I am not wrong, I am me.

To let go is an interesting thing. For me, it is kind of like when you let go of something tiny in the ocean. It will probably never make its way back to me. Sometimes, it is necessary for tiny things to get engulfed in a vast and majestic sea.

Tonight, I am sending out my own message in a bottle.