Notes To My Younger Self:
Trust: “Assured reliance on the character, credibility, strength or truth of someone or something.” A place in which confidence is placed. Faith in something future or contingent.
In your life journey, you will put trust in many places. In friends, family, in significant others, in leaders, in ideas, science, in cultures, engineers, in mechanics, (huge for pilots) and in faith. At times you will give trust freely, maybe even naively, hoping that your vulnerability matches what you’re investing in. In other situations, you may choose to hold back, waiting to offer trust to people or places that have earned it.
Know that anytime you choose to trust there will be a risk of being betrayed. Some betrayals will be small and others, much bigger. No matter how large or small, a breech of trust will be painful. And the more times your trust is betrayed, the more wary you’ll become, in my opinion, of placing trust in something. The good news is there’s a silver lining in the trust business. Understand that trusting others is more about you than it is about them. Remember that you get to pick where and with whom you place your trust. Before you give your trust away, assess if who or what you’re considering trusting conveys consistency. Do you feel fairly certain of how this person or thing will behave? Or are you nervous, encountering inconsistency and unpredictability? If your answer if is the latter, then perhaps you need to wait and gather more information before offering your trust. When you find yourself confused about whether to trust or not, rely on your experience, your conscience and your common sense before placing confidence in something or someone else. If you still have doubts, turn to where you place your faith, assured that what you’ve chosen to believe in is trustworthy.
E.L Chappel author of Spirit Dance/Storm Makers/Coming very soon: The Surge
You always have a choice where, when or if you want to trust.
aka The Glamorous Wife
p.s. This post was inspired by Nar-Anon’s SESH book.