Make myself believe I am worth something

Posted on July 1, 2012 by elizabeth

In solitude I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk with, no telephone calls to make, no meetings to attend, no music to entertain, no books to distract, just me–naked, vulnerable, weak, sinful, deprived, broken–nothing. It is this nothingness that I have to face in my solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything in me wants to run to my friends, my work, and my distractions so that I can forget my nothingness and make myself believe I am worth something. –Henri Nouwen, The Essential Henri Nouwen, p. 82

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  • http://www.carisadel.com/ Caris Adel

    That is so true.  I had my first silent, individual retreat yesterday.  It just happened that there were no other humans around, and I didn’t get cell service.  I was by myself for 8 hours.  It was good, but so weird.  I started getting really twitchy about 4 hours in.  I wanted to check twitter and FB so bad…just to connect with someone.  It was a hard thing, but also a good thing…and being away from my kids, and just having no responsibilities for a day was amazing.