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I Love That for Me

Sincerely AngieLeave a comment

Growing up, I never heard the words “I love you” in my household unless a few cases of beer were consumed and even that was usually followed by a laugh or it was said in a joking manner. I knew from watching movies and hearing stories from my peers, that I love you’s, should have been normal and shown with the actual words and actions. I don’t fault my mother for not saying it or showing it in a way that I deemed fit. I just made a choice at a young age to make sure that my future was filled with saying and showing those near and dear to me, that I loved them.

I know it may seem strange or odd for someone who didn’t grow up around love or hadn’t experienced love, to know how to give and receive it but anything is possible. I am not perfect but I learned as life went on, how to love and decided early on that I was open to receiving love. The true credit goes to God. At seventeen, I began going to church on my own to get to know God. In my getting to know God, I got an understanding of unconditional love. God is love. So essentially, know God, know love. That was the key that helped me to get to where I am today.

One of my exes told me that I had a creative love and many people have said that they felt comfort with me. While comfort doesn’t equate to love, there has to be a level of love and softness available for someone else nearby to feel comfort in your presence. I’ve made it a priority to tell those around me I love you on a consistent basis, especially my nieces. I’m still growing and learning but I am grateful daily for God and life lessons that make me greater in love.

I will forever remain open, hopeful and intentional when it comes to the matters of love. My heart will remain full of love. So much so, that there will always be an abundance or overflow of love around me. The love that I am giving myself today will be the same love that comes back to me 100 fold tomorrow and always. Just knowing that God’s love is ever present and unconditional, will fuel my heart for a lifetime and forever after that. I am so glad that I didn’t allow what I didn’t receive as a child dictate negatively how I operated in the future and I love that for me!

Sincerely,

Why aren’t People Allowed to Change?

Sincerely AngieLeave a comment
Change is necessary and inevitable.

This will possibly be another post that could be labeled as a rant but again, I have questions. If you saw my last blog post, then you know that I have been tuning in to a dating show on social media by Kendra G. Each time I tune in and the guests are asked the question “Why didn’t you require marriage from that person but you are requiring it now?” I cringe because, are people not allowed to change and/or change their minds? Now I will be the first to raise my hand and state proudly that yes, I have held some people’s past against them. I know it’s not right and sometimes I have looked past what I know someone is historically known for, to give them the benefit of the doubt. They have also proven me right by doing the exact thing that they are known for doing even though the opportunity for them to respond differently was there.

Life teaches us daily maybe even hourly what we like or dislike. We are ever changing and ever evolving people. Even our taste buds change. One day you can love a specific food and then wake up one day and the thought of it makes you sick. Vice versa would be you wake up one day and suddenly want onions on everything and you never liked onions like that before. True story, it happened to me. You can say at 21 that you never want to get married or have kids then meet someone at 25 and decide that you now want 10 kids and a massive wedding. Change is inevitable, solicited, unsolicited, voluntary and involuntary. Most times, life and experiences force us to change.

I’ve had a million conversations about my past and what I did between the ages of 19-29. Things that I wouldn’t even do or accept now. Even things that I did at 30 or even a month ago, I wouldn’t dare do today. I am allowed to say that those things or actions no longer suit me. I am allowed to break a habit and create new ones. The same should be granted to others. If I can change, someone else can also. If I didn’t require honesty or respect from someone in my twenties, does that now mean that in my thirties, I can’t decide that I now want those things from anyone I come in contact with?

As I watch the show by Kendra G on IG, YouTube and Facebook, when she asks that question and people hesitate, they seemingly don’t know how to respond or they’re scared to give their answer. In my mind, I just want to scream and say, because you are allowed to grow, learn yourself and set boundaries and standards. Even on IG, I saw a post about a woman who didn’t require things in her past, that she is now requiring moving forward. The comments were ruthless. It was in reference to things that she once did for people who were not her boyfriend or husband. She now wants a husband but she vowed to not do any of the things she once did because those people didn’t deserve it. The majority of the comments bashed the person for changing up her norm. The other folks commended her and understood her position.

I think that entitlement and audacity is running rampant or maybe it’s on sale. Firstly, who are we to meet someone, ask them about their past and/or find out what they have done in their past and feel entitled enough to believe that because it was done before, it should be afforded to us? Secondly, the same things that we have the audacity to want, ask for or require, are we willing to give? Thirdly, we are allowed to have requirements and standards and we are allowed to make those standards and requirements known to give potential partners the option to say if they can or will meet said standards and requirements. I don’t believe that our requirements should be based on what someone has done before just because we know that they have the capability to do that thing. We don’t know if or how someone was mentally affected by a previous act.

I guess in closing, all I am really asking is, if we can all just live and let live? I can have and set boundaries at any moment I see fit because it’s my right. You can have standards and requirements because that’s your right. I just ask that we look in the mirror and look at the person we are interested in and ask ourselves if we can and are we willing to give what we require? Sounds good?

Sincerely,

As an Adult, are You Still Lying?

Sincerely AngieLeave a comment

My first question is, why? My second question is, is there a benefit in lying?

When I make the statements, “I’m grown.” “I’m not afraid of you.” “What are you going to do to me?” the person I’m saying it to, always laughs. Those are true statements for me because why, at this age, would I be lying to anyone? Normally, I’m pretty straight forward. So just to be clear, yes, I have lied before. Will I lie again, it’s possible. Do I make it a habit to lie, no. Five to seven years ago I lied because I didn’t want to hurt someone’s feelings in a specific situation and when the truth came out, it would’ve been better to just tell the truth from jump. I am highly aware that some people can’t help but to lie due to being pathological liars, habitual liars or someone whose whole life is a lie. Those people may be beyond the reach of help but for those seemingly normal people, I need answers. I show up and have shown up as Angela for as long as I can remember. One thing I have never been known as, is a liar. So, when I say I’m grown, I mean it. What harm should I fear by being honest?

I can reason with or understand the occasional “little white lie” or the “lying by omission” mainly because there is always going to be the “fine print”. Meaning, in life, there are a lot of gray areas and it’s easy to blur lines. This doesn’t mean deception is okay either. I am not naïve and I know that not everyone will all of a sudden just stop lying at any particular age. So in essence, this post is kind of a rant or vent.

Recently, my sister told me about a dating show on IG and I tuned in and now I watch it any chance I get. It’s a dating show that started during Corona virus and quarantine time. A lady Kendra G. started going live and allowing people to join her on live, she asks a few questions and if someone who was viewing found you interesting or attractive, they could reach out to you in your DM. Like I mentioned, I just found out about it and now I am hooked. Mainly, because some of the guests are complete train wrecks and it shows what singles have to look forward to in these dating streets. Two of the questions that Kendra asks her guest are “What are you looking for in a man/woman?” and “What is a deal breaker for you?”. Almost everyone’s answers were/are “I’m looking for someone who’s honest.” or “A deal breaker for me is someone who is a liar.”.

Every time I hear their responses, I am always amazed and saddened. I’m first amazed at how many people actually have to list this as a requirement and then I am immediately saddened at the deeper meaning of it. For this to be a requirement and deal breaker, how many people have been hurt by a lying individual? For as long as I can remember, I have labeled liars as a pet peeve of mine. I’ve dealt with people who I consider compulsive liars for a long time but it’s usually not on an everyday basis that I have to come in contact with them. I’ve learned how to deal with them from afar and to take what they say with a grain of salt. It’s when you fall in love with or live with a notorious liar that’s the concerning part.

Can you fathom questioning yourself and everything that you have ever known about yourself after consistently being lied to about everything? What has ever been wrong with telling the truth? There is nothing wrong with telling the truth but I do know that it can be painful. I understand lying to avoid hurting someone you care about or love but even then, it’s better to just be honest. The hurt runs deep when the opportunity to have a choice in a matter is taken away from you. For example, someone lied to you because they didn’t know how you would respond if they had told you the truth. They fear the consequences of their actions, so they take away your right to respond how you see fit, given the offense. Again, I’m speaking from experience. It was a tough lesson learned and I was reminded that the best case scenario was to never commit the offense that would cause you to have to lie or just tell the truth in the first place.

Lying and liars come in many forms and it starts early. At some point in life, some people change and stop lying and for others, they lie for a living. It’s not on them, it’s just in them. They don’t need a rhyme or a reason. The thing that has me the most confused is, besides childhood traumas, attention seekers, low self-esteem, people pleasers and chemical imbalances, why is anyone over the age of 30-35 still lying?

At the beautiful age of 30, life shifts for most. You’ve gone through the glorious teenage years, the reckless twenties and once you hit thirty, you’re figuring out what really matters and how short life really is. Most people have gone through real life scenarios that have shaped them into who they are currently. Some people are still finding themselves, others have found themselves and they’re content with who they are with no interest in people pleasing or maintaining an image. For anyone who is a fully grown adult, who works and pay their own bills, why do you lie?

If you’re anything like me, you’ve wondered when, how or why children lie or became liars. That’s something that started early. I believe that children notice early on right from wrong and when they know that they have done something that they weren’t supposed to do, they lie to prevent the consequences. Other times, children are coached into lying by adults close to them. You know the “tell them I’m not home” lie. Children innately know that it’s not true and they see it done so often that it becomes the norm to see, hear or witness a lie and not say anything about it. This becomes a part of their character if the child is not aware enough to see the hurt, harm or wrongness of the lies and decides to do the opposite. As the child grows older, they start to lie and the parents wonder when and where the child started this bad habit. Forgetting that the child had front row seats to their very own lie tutor.

Honesty is the best policy but a lie is way more entertaining than the truth. I know it’s too much to ask adults to be more honest and stop lying but that would involve forcing people who do not have the capacity to be truthful, to change. Sorry not sorry for my rant but seeing how often people mention wanting a partner who is honest just saddens me. As humans, not just in a relational aspect, we have to do better.

Sincerely,