I personally believe, one of the hardest challenges we face in life is to simply live in our own skin…to just be right here, right now, regardless of where we are. Too often we needlessly distract ourselves with anything and everything…food, shopping, television, tabloid news, online social networks, video games, cell phones, iPods, etc… basically anything to keep us from being fully present in the current moment.
We use compulsive work, compulsive exercise, ect, ect, to escape from ourselves and the realities of living.
In fact, many of us will go to great lengths to avoid the feeling of being alone in an undistracted environment.
So we succumb to hanging-out with just about anybody to avoid the feeling of solitude, as being alone means dealing with our true feelings…fear, anxiety, happiness, anger, joy, resentment, disappointment, anticipation, sadness, excitement, despair, and so on and so forth.
It doesn’t really matter if our feelings are positive or negative…they are overwhelming and exhausting, so we prefer to numb ourselves to them.
The bottom line is that every one of us is an
“ADDICT”
and what we are addicted to is avoiding ourselves.
Acknowledging this addiction is the first step to healing it.
Try noticing with curiosity, and without judgement, all of the ways in which you avoid being in your own skin, right here, right now, in this present moment we call life.
We just might learn a thing or to.