A picture of the bird house I painted as a child just because.
I am not talking about the incredibly important use of the word just as in justice and justly. I am talking about the much less important use. As in: just curious, just asking, just wondering. The word, just, has become such a fixture in my vocabulary and I’m not sure when it made this entrance. I’ve noticed though that it is more than a word filling space, it is me actively making my words, thoughts and feelings smaller by inserting it as a shield in front of whatever follows.
It attempts to help me hide behind it in case someone thinks what I say is strange or someone disagrees or someone gets offended, but people are going to feel and do all of those things and I have to become okay with this and own my words regardless because words have weight.
Instead of shrinking my words, I will stand boldly behind them because I believe in what I say and when I screw up I will apologize and do better next time and when the words don’t come out right I will try again, but I don’t need to hide it is time to do away with “just!”
Do you do this too? With “just” or another word? Tell me, let’s work on this together. We don’t need to hide, we are brilliant, beautiful beings with thoughts, feelings and questions that matter and we can share them as they are without any caveats or shields.
Happy day, friends. I love you and am sending big hugs. XOXO, CAMDW
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