The Tree or the Water

I read an interesting article today that posed the question, "Would you give up personal accomplishments to have a successful and happy love relationship?" The article went on to state that if you have to think about the answer for more than 3 minutes you are crazy, OF COURSE you should always choose to be happily in love.

Well, count me as part of the ones that thought about it for more than 3 minutes and choose the opposite. I believe that the article was intrinsically flawed in the first place. It, of course, equated personal accomplishments with money. I value money less than I value pretty much everything else, so I had to disregard that aspect of the article. How crazy is our society, where we are judged on our success as a person by money and possessions? That topic is for another blog entirely, so I won't get into here, but suffice it to say that thinking is flawed on so many levels I can hardly wrap my brain around it.

Truth be told, I wouldn't trade who I am, how far I've come, and what I've accomplished as a human being for anything in the world. If you believe that in the end, we all truly walk through this world alone, then how can you value a relationship, more than you value who you are? In the end, we only have ourselves to answer to. People are meant to enrich our lives and conversely, we are meant to enrich others. But, that doesn't mean that other people should become your whole life. I have faced it before, loving someone, but knowing that in the end, it doesn't enrich my life to have them in my life and so I have had to let them go. I have been let go by people as well. Sure, it stings, it hurts down to the core at times, but in the end, I am content and I will continue to strive to be content with who I am in this world.

Sometimes in life, we are the tree on the river bank rooted in where we are and others are the water flowing by, stopping for a moment to say hello and give the tree what it needs and then flowing on. The water doesn't get angry, it just is, flowing on to new places and things, knowing what its purpose is and happy with what it is. The tree doesn't mourn the passing for too long, it got what it needed and continues to grow. Be the tree, be the water, it doesn't matter, what does matter is that you are content with who you are and what your personal triumphs, failures, and accomplishments are. That is what makes you whole, not striving to become whole in the eyes of another.

Peace and love,

Lara