On Intimacy
Everyone talks about the beauty of intimacy with friends or romantic partners, but rarely anyone ever discusses the intimacy you have with yourself. Those moments spent in your own company, venturing far into the depths of who you really are outside of other people’s expectations, outside of the many different roles you play-the “worker”, the “friend”, the “partner”, the “child”, the “parent”-the list goes on and on. Of course, all these roles are integral to who you are but there is something to be said about getting to know the person who exists beyond all that, about how your value and worth begins with the relationship you have with yourself.
I read a quote that said kind people are not just kind to other people, but to themselves as well. Are you kind to yourself? Do you talk to yourself with patience and love? Do you forgive yourself? Do you make time and space for your own needs or do you sacrifice those little parts of yourself you once loved for all the roles you play? We often look outside of ourselves for meaning, for belonging, and even then, it’s difficult to feel it, to feel whole and complete.
So many of us struggle to be in our own company, to sit quietly with our own thoughts, with our feelings, without getting overwhelmed, without needing to distract. But there is something beautiful to be found if you do. A deep and profound relationship to cultivate that makes so many other…
