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Over time I've realized that the path to self-acceptance is facing the most horrible parts about yourself - to admit truths that would have made you flinch away. It requires coming to terms with [being any terrible thing], to embrace it, integrate it, and stop moving from fear.1/

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Aella

@Aella_Girl

Jul 23, 2020

This necessary step on the path to self-acceptance is *actively discouraged* by society. There's no room to say "Hey guys, [gross thing] is true about me", without getting socially barred, even if it's also true about the people doing the barring. 2/

109

Aella

@Aella_Girl

And so cultures that fail to stop judging their closet skeletons and are more interested in shaming and exclusion for people being upfront about their dark or unflattering sensations, I predict will have much higher rates of anxiety, depression, and unhappiness. 3/3

6:22 PM · Jul 23, 2020

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Unless MAYBE there's a strong sub-public sphere of socialization among groups that would be banned and shunned otherwise. I'd look to pre-revolutionary Iran, maybe present-day Kuwait for some inroads. China at present might be interesting, too. Not that I know anything.

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The common game is to pretend that everything is just fine. Until it is obviously not, or...death.

Peter Odogwu

@PeterUIOdogwu

Jul 23, 2020

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@Aella_Girl

But they'll have lower diagnosed rates of anxiety and depression which is what matters for the stats!

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And high rates of undiagnosed mental issues

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Well said

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Some of us are such harsh critics of ourselves. “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.” -Walt Whitman