Right now it seems that the more I talk to people, the more I fondly look back at how I was raised.

I've been having some really depressing conversations lately. Mostly about the issues we all have mentally and what not. A lot of problems these people have are based on how they were raised. A lot of people seem to have parents that smother them, and they never seemed to have had any free will. It just goes to show that how you were raised has a big impact on how you think and feel.

Personally, I was raised in a pretty free and open household. I did my thing, asked for help when I needed it... but I was generally left to my devices. Obviously that was later in life... but that's when it counted. Of course I had my parents teach my right and wrong and stuff like that when I was little. But didn't we all?

Maybe my parents weren't the most supportive people out there, but they did what they could. I think I kinda pulled myself away from them too. However, I grew up to be pretty healthy.. mentally at least.

I have the occasional depressive bout, but so do a lot of people. I've actually become fairly normal. I don't know when this happened...

So far, this summer makes me feel normal. I really honestly truly feel like myself. I had a little bit of an identity crisis last month were I was seriously not sure. But now... maybe I can't describe myself, but I feel like I am myself. I'm not longer pretending... and I'm not longer being shaped into someone else.

It's nice to be happy. It's nice to be free, but still have a reason to go back. It's nice to finally feel like there's nothing to hide.

Yeah, I am surprisingly happy. I don't know where it came from. But I'm loving it!

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we
might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you
have been healed.
-- 1 Peter 2:24