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But what do you expect Jess? Don't be so hard on yourself. You are who you are because of a million different influences that range from your parents to your friends to your school to the city you live in to the books you read to the faith that you've been taught.


It's not a self-esteem issue. It's a harsh examination of my prejudices and ignorance. Where I look at what I was in an unfavorable way, I'm not critical to the point I feel I was wrong. I was ignorant and untrained, which is not good when dealing with emotional illness or life in general. Ignorance may be bliss, but I don't like being blissfully ignorant.

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Im thinking it would be kinder and more compassionate - to rephrase and replace: I realize now I don't like who I was with something like: I can now see that my old ways of thinking and responding were not helpful to me, my actions and words in the present and now are yielding more benefits


Maybe so, but then again, it might be euphemistic. I've agreed with myself(no, I don't have multiple priorities. It's only a phrase.:eek ) that being harsh in self-assessment is not necessarily a bad thing. I have my good points and my bad points. One thing I try to do is be brutally honest with my emotions and thoughts. I've made the mistake of failing to address my own issues in the past. I don't want this to continue and I want to progress beyond what I was before.

We are only as good as what we perceive, but we are also ony as good as how far we can reach. Limiting ourselves in any way when it comes to emotional health is a disservice to ourselves and our society.