Baby steps, patience and uncertainty

[Underdog]

Amen, sistas!

Wonka, we had the wheat and chaff gospel reading a month or so back. Funny you brought that up. (BTW, I love the word chaff...)

I wrote something very similar on MB's thread yesterday.
When we know who we are and claim our place in the world, the chaff does just fall away.

If I have to sum up the #1 positive about being over 50, this is it! It wasn't a switch or anything that turned on and off, but in general, my entire "theme" after turning 50 was to make all of this worth the effort. And in general, if people don't support me, they are also relegated to the category of acquaintances with little to no influence.

For whatever reason (age + effort I put forth in my 40s?), I find it so much easier to be the me I want to be now. Not the me I think they want me to be or worse... the me that "they" think I *should* be. I'm a whole lot more comfortable in my own skin now than I was even 10 years ago. It makes me infinitely glad I pressed through those tough years in the 40s. The same ones as you had, Bug, where I had to evaluate and challenge my own flawed belief system and how I had to be right.

LOL, when I went to the medium a few weeks ago, she told me not to feel bad about being right - because I usually am. I literally busted out laughing. I'll keep that my secret and just keep working on hearing others and listening instead. Being right has its advantages, though. I've found the more silent I keep about it, the more people seek out my advice and genuinely want to hear my opinion. Leading that pack is my XH (which makes me laugh even more).

Carry on, and thanks for your musings. They keep me honest too.