The fail.....

There are those people. Those who are prettier than you. Those who are smarter than you. Those who are thinner than you. Those who are better than you.
They are lurking in every corner of your mind. They are your uncertainties of inadequacy or loneliness. They are your fears of failure and rejection. They are the manifestations of regret and shame.
They are in your person, escorting you down the path of disenchanted expectations of yourself. They feed off of you. You let them in and they take away from you………. You let them in.

Most days I stare in the mirror, lifting this or sucking in that. After a good long critical moment, I release all of it and look intently. Usually just for a second…… and in that second I accept. I accept that I am this. I am this person. I am. For that moment I am me and I love me. For that moment, I accept me. I inhale all of the air my chest can take in, like a prideful boasting male bird, and then exhale loudly and wildly. In that exhale I let go. I release expectation. I let it go.
Usually, within that same second I turn out of the door. Naked, I pass by another mirror… inhale……. then they are there again. Those people I let in. And even if that one breath is the only moment I have of serenity…. I go on….