Everyone has their problems. Issues, complaints, weaknesses, character flaws; all the things we hope to not have but most assuredly do. I know I've certainly got my fair share. Most, although not all, people try to keep these little bits of imperfection hidden from others. Some more successfully hidden or masked than others. Hidden or not, the problems remain. I have a tendency to forget this. I forget it when it's about other people; I don't forget it about me.

I take the good in people as the definition of them. I seek out the good qualities and minimize the bad so that in my eyes, people are mostly only the good parts of themselves. I rarely see beyond this. The result of these selective observations is that I see others as being better than me. I rate myself way below everyone else on just about any scale there is. I don't think this is because I want to see everyone as fantastic beings, skipping merrily through life with minimal obstacles in the way. It's more about putting myself down, picking on myself, pointing out reasons why I'm less than.

Every now and then, I see glimpses of people as they really are. Flawed and struggling at times just like me. Those instances are very uncomfortable. It's as if I don't know how to act or react to the truth about others. I have them painted a certain way in my mind and when that image is altered, or at times shattered, I feel knocked off balance. It shakes my reality. When I see and acknowledge to myself that they are like me, it forces me to be more whole and more similar to everyone else and that somehow isn't o.k.

The one positive that is easy to grab hold of is that I feel more love towards people the more I admit that I'm just like everyone else. Just as good as everyone else. Just as deserving as everyone else. Just as lovable as everyone else.

Someday I hope to believe this in my heart and soul and not just in my mind.