Playing the Shield (A Poem)

It’s amazing,

the amount of power

the perceptions of others has

over your own self-image.

It’s even more amazing

when you realise

that their perceptions of you are completely wrong,

and always have been,

because they based them on who they thought you were;

and these perceptions were coloured

and tainted by

(among other things)

their own insecurities

about their own self-image.

They were projecting on you to protect themselves,

and you gave them permission,

albeit unknowingly,

to use you as a shield.

But the shield was weak,

or it simply wasn’t as strong as you thought it was.

And so you took onboard their perceptions of you

as your own perceptions of yourself.

How wrong you were.

Forgive (always),

but don’t forget (ever)

just in case it happens again,

and you need to be a shield,

this time for yourself,

not for them.

*

Blessings.

Gavin