So, having just finished reading Walden, which clearly impacted me greatly (as I wrote three other posts about it), one thing that struck me again and again about Thoreau was how direct and honest he was. He never side-stepped expressing his opinion on things, even if they were controversial. He expresses himself calmly and truthfully. There is a great courage behind this that I greatly admire.
I have been thinking about how to take a page from his book. I would like to express a few things honestly and truthfully that I have been scared to express.
Here goes. In no particular order, are my particular views on some subjects that I have not talked about:
- I take pride in not drinking alcohol or doing drugs. They may be at times an effective “social lubricant” in some circles, but I do not like the idea of putting that stuff in my body. I enjoy the thought of my own independence from such substances, and I also enjoy knowing that I’m saving a lot of money by not partaking.
- I love being a man, take pride in my male nature, and think that too often these days the masculine is criticized or torn down. I was raised to be a “feminist,” yet what this really looked like was that I felt a lot of guilt and confusion about being male. It is only once I embraced my gender fully that I became happier. It is only in accepting and embracing myself that I knew my own power.
- I care about environmental issues and want to make sure that we as humans are good stewards of the earth. At the same time, I mostly do not identify with being an activist. The activist-leaning views I was raised with always made me think we humans have got it all wrong and are messing up in every way. I spent many years as a child worrying about things like global warming, yet I could not do anything to change it. It was not fun to worry about it. For many years now I have preferred to focus on what I can influence and control. This feels better for me.
- I do not watch the news, nor do I read it much (if I do, it’s more likely to be on a specific topic I’m interested in). I stopped doing this in November of 2016 after our current President got elected. I decided I had enough of the roller-coaster of trying to keep up with the political stories. I have since been much happier in my own little bubble 🙂
There ya go! Some personal truths I was reluctant to express! I hope you don’t hate me for it. But if you do, I guess I don’t really care that much.
After all, I would rather be truthful, like my good friend Thoreau. 😉
That’s all for now!
Thumbs up to these views!