A Spiritual Awakening

I'm a completely different person from who who I was 5 years ago. And that’s not only because your skin cells renew themselves about every 48 days. To give you a better picture [and because I love a good analogy], it feels like my mind started out in Brazil and now I’ve somehow ended up in Siberia. My whole thought process has changed. My values have changed. My taste in deodorant has changed. I'm in the process of creating a new me. But... there’s a bit of an issue with all of this change and personal growth. What happens to all the people you’ve met and become friends with in the past who no longer share your ideals?

What happens when your friends become strangers? What happens when family members don’t even recognize you anymore?

There’s the common perception that people who go through a spiritual awakening lose all their friends and become loners. And while it’s true that some people do end up going down that route, it’s not necessarily because they want to. In fact, more often than not, it’s because they have to.

Think about it this way: if you were the only person in your group of friends who decided to go vegan, eventually, you would probably get sick of hearing about how good bacon is and how there’s “nothing wrong with eating meat”.

You would grow tired of being the only one passing on steak dinners and late night dominoes pizza. You become a drag and you can sense the sentiment even though everyone, including you, is doing their best to feign ignorance. Sooner or later, you drift apart. People who signed your high school yearbook who you swore you’d never lose touch with don’t get your new number when you change you phone. Your once-best friend who you used to have sleepovers with every weekend suddenly becomes a Facebook acquaintance. It’s not that anyone is really at fault, it’s just that you’re on different paths.

The same thing can happen with family members. You might be the black sheep of the bunch who decided to go against the grain and pursue an unconventional lifestyle. And while, at first, they might be supportive and try to understand your new way of thinking, eventually, they too get tired. They don’t want to talk about the time you got arrested for protesting or how you’re never going to amount to anything because you “don’t have a real job”. They stop inviting you to family gatherings and Christmas dinner becomes a thing of the past.

It’s not that they don’t love you, it’s just that they don’t understand you.

And so, more often than not, people who go through a spiritual awakening find themselves growing apart from family and friends. It’s not an easy thing to deal with but it’s almost part of the process. The truth is, when you go through a spiritual awakening, you can’t help but grow apart from the people around you. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s often for the best. After all, if everyone around you is still living in Brazil, eventually, you’re going to get lonely in Siberia.

Have you gone through a spiritual awakening? What was it like for you?

Until next time,

Luna ❤