Darlin, I can't even respond to this - do you know how perfectly you just said EVERYthing? It's hard to be around people who seem intent on wallowing in their sadness or distress. venting frustration is one thing, as long as you are getting yourself ready to do something to improve the situation. It's so hard for some folks to get out of the mind set that taking risks is bad and that we should just suck it up and be miserable because everyone else is. So not the way to live!!! I counsel people as a clergy person on this often :) Well said sweetie!!

Hugs!
Niamh

Wow, darlin you know you just described my feelings? I used to be that unhappy like the people you describe, but then I found Wicca and it was like...BAM! Lol! I was happy, I wasn't competing any more with everything around me. I was at peace. Why people keep themselves latched on to hurt I think...is because we are grown up with "thats not possible". People now a days only think of the good stuff as "Fairy talls" or "Not possible". I dislike both ferociously. But all we can do Is hope that they find a path that will complete them like we have!

Blessed Be

Here's why I get chills up my spine when I hear Wiccan chickens talking about "higher power". Ugh.

If we take personal responsibility for our happiness and success, it's not guaranteed (at least not in the way we might think), but we have no chance if we're wallowing around in fear of what we might lose if we decide to depend on ourselves. : )

I've spent large swaths of my younger life feeling trapped, stuck, or impinged.

You, my darlin', are a smart cookie!!

Actually I'd even go so far as to say that we do not "need" anyone else. If we can not be comfortable in our own skin, how can we have a healthy relationship with someone else? If we succumb to the pressures to be in a relationship - any relationship - or be a loser, how can we ever find happiness? If we look to another to "complete" us, then doesn't that just make us vampires? Not healthy for either party. A real working partnership has to be based on self-confidence and strength. Then both halves of the couple can build on each other's strength. Otherwise, we are just drowning the other person in our attempts to cling to them to keep ourself from sinking.

Jobs, romatic partnerships, friendships....it's so easy to feel that we are not strong enough to be complete without them - to draw energy from that relationship. That just sets us up as victims. Sure, we'd all like to have the perfect job, the perfect significant other, the perfect friends...but we are not "missing" anything if we don't.

And even if we enter into one of these relationships with the right intentions, over time we may change and that can make it time to find new friends, or a new job, or even a new sig. other. Hopefully these people can grow with you, but sometimes not.

Life is too short to be unhappy!

Although he was speaking about government, I am reminded of a quote from Thomas Jefferson which applies as well to the need for growth and re-evaluation in your personal life:

"I am not an advocate of frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fit him when, a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."

*bravo* *bravo* we are surrounded by self-appointed Master's of the Universe, yet they cannot manage one day of their own lives*~

sheeple.