“A man falling in his own esteem needs more ground under his feet; to stand again he may need the whole world for a foothold.”
~ Wendell Berry
So many men try to live up to the expectations and visions of others (as our fathers did) by acquiring land and things, even by “collecting” people! We must finally come to the conclusion that we, in ourselves, are enough. All those who ever implied or said outright that we weren’t good enough were wrong. Until that moments of awareness arrives, we will continue to work and worry ourselves to an early grave.
Once we recognize ourselves at our full value as the priceless, irreplaceable men we are, we can begin to let go of our choke-hold on a world that can never confirm our manhood, our inner worth.
Today I’ll let go of one thing I’ve been using to measure my manhood, to validate my existence, to confirm my right to be here.
Excerpt from A Quiet Strength: Meditations on the Masculine Soul