Unaltered Voices

  Photo by Daniel Canetti on Unsplash Have you ever wondered why you stayed somewhere longer than you should have? I was thinking about this a couple of months ago. I have stayed in relationships far longer than I should have, and I kept asking myself why. Out of the blue, I heard the answer, and it made so much sense. Most of us are conditioned to believe that to love and be "loyal" means sacrificing yourself for others' shortcomings.   If you have been in church any length of time, you are familiar with Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. If you are in the Christian community, you are aware of Jesus being the savior of a sin-sick world. This construct has taught us that this is love, right? We believe that we are to express love sacrificially, so we bear the weight of another person's behaviors towards us as a measurement of our love and loyalty. On an unconscious level, many of us are not aware that we are acting like Jesus. You are NOT Jesus!!! Here we are i

  Photo by  Meriç Dağlı  on  Unsplash You’ve been in the basement far too long. The stairs were always present, but you refused to climb, or can you see it through the clutter? There was never a lock on the door, but you would not turn the knob. You stayed in the dark because you wanted a party in the basement with you, but no one RSVPed. How many parties must you throw before you realize no one is coming. Several guests opened the door, bid you to come, but you remained. Do you like it down there, or can you not hear the answer when it calls?  Are you immobile? Is that why you are stuck and become so accustomed to your state of being? Has dysfunction become your new norm? The clutter is overwhelming. I think you know the staircase is there but have a hard time reaching it. Time to shift something around so that you can see your way upstairs. Did you know you can create a new world from chaos? You do not have to remain in the basement, but you have to will yourself to come out. Day

  Photo by Heather Zabriskie on Unsplash According to Webster, time is the measured or measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues: duration. Look at that definition and ask your self when did it heal you. If it took you ten years to recover what aids did you utilize during this time? If you broke a limb, would you seek medical treatment, or would you just let it be and wait for time to correct the break? I am not sure where we learned this saying from, but I am here to help you understand that time alone does not heal wounds. People are walking around mentally, physically, and spiritually broken, waiting for time. Pain is seeping through the fractures in everything they put their hands to, yet they await time.   I am not exempt; I fell into this trap! Yes, I was one who stopped dating or having anything to do with a man for years because I thought that would help me heal the areas in me that kept me in vicious cycles with them. I did not se