We all have aspects of our personality, of who we are, that we are not proud of. It can be difficult to come to grips with this – I know there are aspects of my personality that I have found troubling, and at times painful for me to accept. Surviving hardship has a way of exposing who you really are, and sometimes the things we do to survive aren’t pretty. I always understand the reasoning behind my actions, and I carefully consider the consequences. But there have been many times in my life where I had to make a decision and take action and later I would think “What kind of a person does this?” I was doing something I thought I had to do to survive, but it certainly wasn’t something I was proud of. Although I tried to accept this part of my personality, I would feel like a “bad” person when I thought about it.
But with age comes (hopefully) some degree of wisdom. And I have come to realize that it’s okay to accept that you are imperfect, indeed, it’s important to learn to love and accept yourself because you are imperfect. But that’s only part of the story…
The truth, I believe, is this: I have learned to accept that I am a flawed and imperfect human, but I am trying my best to do the right thing. Knowing this I can forgive myself and move on. I know that I am trying to be the best human I can, and that’s all that can be asked of any of us.
We are ALL imperfect, flawed people. Accept this, try to be better, forgive yourself and move on.