Critical

Many are critical of my choices. My main concern should be that I not be critical of myself. There is no 'right' way. There is only the way that I choose, and the ways that I do not choose. There is only the here and now, and simultaneously, there is the future I plan for, and the past I struggle to learn from.
I am who I am, and simultaneously, I am who I want to become.
Life is so fluid, and so multi-layered and leveled, it's not just about whose shoes I've walked in. There are too many variables. No two lives are the same. So why worry about what another thinks of my choices? Do I really think that they know better than I do about the many varied nuances of my life, my character, my situation, my pros/cons?
Or can they only look through their lens? It's just not practical to think that someone else can decide for me what to do with my life. I am the only me. No one else can actually walk in my shoes. No one's feet fit so perfectly in them as mine.
Releasing the grip on my chest, the crushing weight of my need for others' approval. Like a fist loosening its grip, stiffly, slowly at first, flexing, stretching, practicing my freedom. Less Critical. More Forgiving. This is what I choose.

Sometimes I wonder...

Sometimes I wonder why things happen the way they do... sometimes I cry inside for what never was... sometimes I cry outside for what I couldn't accomplish. Tears and Time wash away the sharpest edges of the pain, and Love tells me that I'm allowed to be happy. And I am. So Happy.
I'm proud to be honest, proud to be Out. In love with my woman.