Thanks for celebrating two years of Anomalous Darlings last Saturday <3. This post is longer than the usual AD updates, but hopefully you find it word the extra length.
I always struggle with where to draw the line between under-sharing and being vulnerable on Anomalous Darlings. This blog isn’t anonymous and sometimes I anticipate the questions my family and acquaintances will ask (or think) based on what I post. Yet, every year God pushes me to go a little further and to be a bit more transparent as people will always have their opinions, but God’s is the only one that matters. It was Jesus’ unconditional love that saved my life not anyone else’s.
Society always says, “love yourself”, which isn’t a bad practice within itself, it’s just extremely ambiguous! What does loving yourself even look like? I always thought that self-love was expressed through exercising, drinking water and refraining from excessive sweets, until recently when God revealed that although I’ve always loved myself, I’ve never been in love with myself (there is a difference).
I’ve never had a boyfriend, wasn’t asked out to either of my high school’s proms and was forgotten at my eighth grade dance. And thus far, the reminder that some people are more adept at forming connections than others, has increased exponetially in college, as everyone appears to be boo’d up, friend’d up or at least somewhere in between. And to top it all, I’m a huge hopeful romantic who grew up with Nicolas Sparks as my Saint Nick!
I promise that this is all relevant context and not an pity party! Satan will often tell you that you’re single and without friends because there’s something wrong with you or that you’re the reason a relationship didn’t work out. Those are some of the biggest and boldest white lies that he spins, yet there is a little-known secret that nails Satan’s doomed coffin shut every time. God isn’t a recycler, He created you in a unique light with eyes, skin, hair, fingerprints and preferences like no other living creature. And because of that individuality, it is pointless to compare your lives, to any others, as by divine design there will be always variance.
In the last month, God has opened my eyes to new avenues and my hands to new gifts. He has showed me how to not obliterate my desire for meaningful relationships, but to channel it into areas of my interest, until my paths crosses with the right people. With God’s mercy, I’ve been learning to crochet and working towards one day being fluent in Spanish. Crochet and Spanish are two (of three; the last one will be next conquest) things that I’ve always wanted to expand in, but never felt I had the talent or time.
If I was head over heels with the first boy that uttered a sappy cliché to me, I wouldn’t be pursuing Spanish or crochet. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still waiting (not so patiently) on my Boaz, but in the meantime I’ve realized that there are still some pieces of me that I need to fall in love with first, before him.
So, if there’s no soulmate or sidekick on the horizon, it’s probably a good time to rediscover the one thing that you always wanted to do, yet always made every excuse not to.
And even if you are boo’d up, friend’d up or somewhere in between, it still isn’t a bad idea to consider activities that catch your eye.
Until Sunday,
