If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

REFLECTION

WHAT THIS MEANS

You did not pick your temperament, your pace, or most of what you find easy and hard. Peace comes partly from accepting the material you were handed instead of running a lifelong campaign against it. This is not permission to be careless with other people. It is permission to stop apologizing for a nature you could not have ordered differently.

Pick the trait you most often excuse when you meet someone new. Ask whether it actually harms anyone, or whether you have simply been told it is wrong. If it does no damage, try going one week without the apology attached.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Which part of yourself have you apologized for too long?

MORE IN MINDSET & IDENTITY

Free, with nothing to buy inside it.