You know, that old saying/cliche about not letting other’s opinion of you affect the way you see yourself is one of the hardest pieces of advice I’ve ever followed...
I grew up in a super small town and knew all the same people for the better part of 15 years. I surrounded myself with negative people who ate away at my self-esteem while their ghosts haunted me and whispered all my faults in my ears every single day - even when I no longer spoke to them regularly.
It took moving away from that place (like over 7 hours away) to let those ghosts rest and fade away for me to hear clearly for the first time in forever. The “friends” who turned their backs on me and talked shit the second I didn’t kiss their ass were never really my friends at all, and their opinions never should’ve impacted how I felt about myself in the first place.
Now, I’m going back home to visit for the first time since I moved (over a year ago) for the holidays. I am finally in a good mental head space and genuinely like the person I am most days (hey, we all have our insecurities from time to time), but I am terrified that I am going to get sucked back into the drama and the self doubt as soon as I cross those county lines into my small hometown...