Do Not Play Small

Today's post is a little personal vent on the negativity of other people. I know some people who have been juicing like I am and they shared that they lost their best friend when they lost weight and started to improve their life.

When I heard that my heart sank. Why should anyone have to lose a friendship, with all the time and memories invested in it, when one starts to improve one's self????

I also got online and was reading some posts that other's had put up that were rather discouraging as well. 

I decided that some peopleneed to be likened to radio stations: sometimes we need to change the channel until we find the right frequency, the right vibe. Change can be scary since we have to grieve the loss, but we also have to have faith that there will be new, positive people to fill the void.

This, my friends, is what keeps people in their addictions: toxic social connections to toxic people who are going nowhere with their lives and are stuck in fear and will try to convince you that that is your life sentence, too.

It's up to you to find the strength and courage to find new connections, new messages, new information and to forge ahead to new territories. Here's a thought that might be appropriate:

Many times in life we are going to come to a fork in the road: do we choose that which is good for us, or do we go along with the crowd? But does choosing what is good for us always mean that we're going to be alone? No.

Temporarily, perhaps, but not indefinitely. You will simply find your new "normal" that's all and you will find new people who will accept all that you stand for. There will be a temporary "gap" however, that will be uncomfortable and take us out of our comfort zone and cause us fear.

More attempts to better one's self have been sabotaged by other's who want to accept mediocrity for themselves. I will forever remember in horror my mother, who was a chain smoker and died from a prescription drug overdose after relapsing back into drinking (she was an alcoholic with 26 years sobriety) after my step-father passed away from emphysema and bone cancer. He, too, was a chain smoker and died from it after many attempts to quit. Trouble was, my mother was never supportive. Whenever he'd get grouchy or irritable after quitting smoking, she'd say to him: "Oh, just go and have a cigarette, will you, and leave us all alone??" She died at age 61 he was just 62.

Well, she got her wish. When I suggested juicing apples and other produce for him when he got diagnosed with cancer, she said "I will not have my kitchen filled with apple crates from Costco!"....

Folks, choose life. Do not play small. And with that, I leave you these words by Marianne Williamson:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”