WHAT IT MEANS WHEN OTHERS JUDGE US

     It's a challenge to divorce ourselves from what other people think about us. We wonder. We fret. It seems so important. What will this one think? What will that one think? We can't possibly please everybody, but why do we even want to? Why does it matter so much? We want others to think we are all these great things and to approve of our decisions and choices. But the truth is that what they think is a reflection of who they are and where they're coming from, and really has nothing to do with us at all.
     Are the ones who judge us focused on the negative in their own lives, or the positive? We need to look at the source. Are they cautionary? Non-supportive of risk-taking ventures? Are they critical of anything that is non-traditional? Or the opposite? Are they bitter, and resentful? Do they hold grudges? Or are they grateful and open-hearted? Do they lack confidence? Are they loud? Do we even like them? And do we apologize if our opinions and choices are different? Do we feel shameful or guilty?
     What power we give to others to determine our worth! Let's take our power back! Let's have the courage to be who we are without apology. Let's choose what suits us and not what we think might win the approval of some other. Let's honor our truth and know that if others judge us harshly for one choice, chances are they will judge us harshly for whatever we choose. It's their judging that makes a statement about them far more than the judgment itself. Let's live free and confident. Let's release ourselves from the bondage of what others may or may not think about what we do and the way we go about things.

I free myself from the opinions of others. Those who love me will rejoice in who I am and whatever choices I make, and those who don't, won't.