A Lifestyle Revolution

Got up at 6 am this morning, so that I could go stand in line with 10,000 other people and see presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. I will say, that in all my years, I have never once been to a rally. I am ashamed to say this, as I am an avid voter. That is not to imply that I am not an informed voter, but I always was afraid of misrepresenting myself or someone else by taking any hard political stances. I grew up with a belief that you don't talk about politics or religion, except for in the company of those inclined to agree, or those who respect differences in opinion.

As I look back on it,  not taking any hard stances was the way I lived my life. I think, a lot of the reason that I was afraid of misrepresentation, is because I was a walking contradiction of who I really am. So many major parts of who I am, were being misrepresented and repressed. Many times, I was called out, and asked the questions "What's with the facade?." I can honestly say, that I found my coping skills, in repression, and I got so good at it, that I didn't even know I was hiding anything from anyone, including myself.

This brings me back to my own personal revolution. The word revolution, is generally used in terms of politics, however it can also mean "to turn", or "revolve." It's a term to indicate a movement! As I stood there today, listening to the invocation, I was overwhelmed by the grace of God. The rabbi reminded us, that God does not merely call us to be "religious," He also calls us to action.  It is not enough to say "this is who I am." My journey to self discovery, and to living out, a more genuine, and truthful life, has brought about a great deal of change! Some good, and some extremely hard, and both have come with their own set of challenges, but none the less, I must move forward. There is no stopping, there is no turning back. Each move, no matter how much, or how little thought is put into it, comes with a set of consequences. So I must learn how to choose. For too long, I kept it in the middle, never letting anyone be able to nail me down; but now it is time to define myself. At the end of the day, I want to be unapologetic-ally genuine, and definitively unshakable in my stances when it comes to life, love, religion and political and social justice.