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Teddy Radiator ([personal profile] teddy_radiator) wrote2013-12-19 08:53 pm

In Which Teddy Gets Wistful

I am just so grateful for all the amazing cards and gifts I've received from so many of you. Between them, the sentimental and serious music of Christmas and my own insecurities, my old feeling of unworthiness threatens to rear its ugly head. It's an evil bird, voracious and greedy, and in the past I would feed it, because it felt too strong to defy.

Thank you all, for helping me to remember that it's up to me to either feed that bird or starve it. There was a time when I believed that to starve that evil bird was to starve myself. I thought it was what I was supposed to feed. It's due to my dear friends here that I've learned my own measure of self-worth. Thank you for that.

I still struggle; I still am afraid of failure - so desperately afraid. And in the past that fear made me quit rather than face it. No more. I will try to be successful; I will keep trying, because you believe in me, and gave me the support and encouragement to believe in myself.

It's funny; a couple of weeks ago I did that meme about locking me up in your house for 24 hours and what you would do with me. I will admit I expected a rather one-dimensional request - talk about smut or D/s or smexxy stuff. Instead, you asked me to read to you, and make tea and talk about Muses and all the things that make me feel talented. You pointed out my strong points; it was me who had the one-dimensional view of how I thought others perceived me. It was a very eye-opening meme - probably one of the best I've ever done.

I apologise for sounding so self-absorbed; I've been taught that this level of self-awareness was conceit and sinful and wrong. I'm just learning that believing in myself isn't something to be ashamed of. You did that.

I think about Con, and how special it was, getting to meet my friends, and sharing such an amazing week with you. It was, in its own way, a type of Christmas - full of good cheer and peace and goodwill and like-minded folk getting together to celebrate something amazing. It still resonates in my heart like a voice, rich with melody and vibrato and talent. And I was part of it! Truly one of the highlights of the year, if not the highlight.

2014 is approaching; we're almost in the station, and it feels like a beginning of something good - and the end of something. I get superstitious at really good Christmases - I start to become afraid it's too good, like it's my last. Please don't misunderstand - I feel fine, I don't think I'm ill, I'm not depressed, but I've just felt that way this Christmas, as if 2014 is the end of something. I've had that feeling before - like a Christmas was going to be my last, and I'm still here. It's just a thing that happens. I have big plans for the next year, and dying isn't one of them.

In any case, I truly hope not - I'm going to MISTI in 2015, and I certainly don't plan on going as a ghost.

[identity profile] irishredlass.livejournal.com 2013-12-20 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
More this Christmas is a first in which you have been freed to express and believe in a way which differs from societal norm. This is a good thing dearest.

{{hugs}}

[identity profile] stgulik.livejournal.com 2013-12-20 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
Came here to say this! Your faith has become less traditional, so naturally this Christmas feels brand-new and different. (And not your last, please and thank you!) This change is proof one can continue to grow as a person, and you certainly are doing that. The world will be your oyster in 2014.

[identity profile] teddyradiator.livejournal.com 2013-12-21 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
{{{hugs}}} And hopefully there will be a pearl in it. (yes, I know there's no such thing as a perfect analogy but you know)

[identity profile] teddyradiator.livejournal.com 2013-12-21 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
Thankyou, sweetie! I do feel like I'm embarking on an entirely new adventure.

{{{hugs}}}

[identity profile] mimimanderly.livejournal.com 2013-12-20 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
It's fascinating how differently others perceive you than you perceive yourself. I get that, too. Paul talks me up at work, so that they already think highly of me before they've even met me. Or I'll meet his co-workers and patrons in passing, when I'm dressed to the nines and feeling witty, and they rave about me to him afterward. And when he tells me all this, I can't help but think "Who the hell are they talking about? It sure can't be me." Part of me is glad that they see the best of me. But I think that there is a much larger part of me that is quite boring. And BoringMimi has trouble living up to this image that they have of me. I wish that that image they had of me was really me. But realistically, it's just a facet of who I am, and a small one at that. I can only hope that if I lovingly nurture that little part of myself that is my ideal, perhaps it will grow and I will feel -- eventually -- that it is me.

[identity profile] teddyradiator.livejournal.com 2013-12-21 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
I hope so - I think you are unspeakably beautiful. I do have those moments. In a group, I tend to fell like I need to play the 'clown', and be witty and keep things moving. Sometimes it works, and other times it doesn't.

[identity profile] dickgloucester.livejournal.com 2013-12-20 09:19 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps it's the end of you feeling unworthy and the beginning of self-belief!

[identity profile] teddyradiator.livejournal.com 2013-12-21 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
That's a wonderful way of looking at it - right now I'm just sort of floating in the Christmas soup. You know, not really thinking forward, just absorbing all the stuff of the season. Once it's over, my ambition and drive will clear out the cobwebs.

[identity profile] lemonade8.livejournal.com 2013-12-20 01:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Glad you are learning to like who you are. I am a bit dumbfounded that someone who has the talent that you do would feel otherwise, but maybe you are a spoiled brat and feel that everyone gets to sing pretty and write interestingly and all of that jazz. ;D Knock it off, young lady, or you are grounded. Go to your room with NO TEA!!!

Merry Christmas, hon. ((hug))

[identity profile] teddyradiator.livejournal.com 2013-12-21 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, Miz Lemonade, ma'am! :)

Merry Christmas to you, too, sweetheart. I can't wait to get started on our little 'project'!
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[identity profile] alabastard.livejournal.com 2013-12-21 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
We are delighted that you are in our lives, you are a shining spirit in this world, and as said above, may this Christmas be different indeed, one of freedom and the beginning of self love and acceptance.

[identity profile] teddyradiator.livejournal.com 2013-12-21 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
Thank You so much for your caring words. They mean the world to me. It is a special Christmas indeed, and all the more so for the knowledge that You Two are part of it. I hope Your Christmas is full of total delight and bliss.