Inner Strength

I do agree with Loeb's quote"When we shrink from the world, our soul shrinks too." I grew up in an extremely conservative family in an equally conservative small town and learned from a young age not to "rock the boat." It's a terribly lonely feeling to voice your feelings or concerns to loved ones or people in your community and be met with unresponsiveness, embarrassment, or fear that you will cause shame. As I read the section on Learned Helplessness I realized I am a classic case. I learned to shrink away from the world a long time ago, and have definitely held a sense of being small. Even though I still carry a lot of fear with me, I still have hope and the desire to reconnect with the world and try again.