[Angela]

Originally Posted by {aspiring_to_clarity}

Maybe I need an accounting of the costs before I decide for sure...

I don't know what I'll face as a result of trusting myself. What's going to happen?!

I'm thinking about that. I'd like to know what you come up with, too, because I'm pretty sure we have costs in common, and there's nothing like the synergy of two loving cooperators, is there?

1. It will be scary -- there will be times we'll have to trust ourselves in the dark, when it smells bad, when the unknown looms like a monster in front of us. Do not minimize this price -- you and I are both scaredy cats about scariness.
   
2. We may get hurt -- no, wait -- we probably WILL get hurt. Are we willing to trust ourselves in the face of almost certain pain? Will we forget about our commitment because avoiding pain is more important? (again, you and I are both big paindy-cats.)
   
3. We will encounter perceived obstacles, and some of them may be pretty uncomfortable. Like, for instance, someone (maybe yourself, maybe someone else) telling you you're crazy and wrong and stupid. Are we willing to keep our word and continue to trust ourselves, even if (when) it means people think we are crazy and wrong and stupid?
   
4. We will be faced with really, really difficult decisions, there is no doubt, and we won't be able to rely on others to make them for us. We won't have the loophole of waiting for a man to leave us so we don't have to leave him. We will no longer have the luxury of indulging in the freeze response when we are faced with inauthentic danger. That's one I'll miss, I don't know about you.
   
5. When we commit to trusting ourselves, you can bet your boots that we will be called into dynamic action, and we can't be lazy or evasive or rationalizing about answering that call. Well, we could be, but we would be breaking our word. Why make the commitment in the first place if we're already giving ourselves an out?

...Any you can think of?