I’ve been working through some stuff and, in this process, I’ve said something along the lines of ‘I need my peeps’. It reminded the person I was talking with of the Barbra Streisand song People.
So I went to listen to this song, first released in 1964, and was met with:
People who need people Are the luckiest people in the world
That’s not what I expected to hear.
I’ve always considered my super independence a strength. Even as I learned that super independence is a trauma response, it still seemed like a super power. It feels like the times I’ve needed people, I’ve been let down time and time again. It feels like all the worst, curled in a ball, crying my eyes out times, have all been around people.
But here I was, explaining to another, ‘I need my peeps’. How did I get to this place? I dunno. Step by step. Person by person. Interaction by interaction. Finding the right peeps. Learning to trust again and again and again.
The song has this lyric as well:
But first be a person who needs people
I had to become a person who needed people. Who could allow people to help and support me. I think I can point to the time, place, and person where this dam began to break. There’s been a fair amount of journey between there and now; a lot of fears to release; a lot of healing to happen; a lot connection to my own heart.
But now, I’m apparently a person who needs people. And I do feel incredibly lucky to have them in my life.
Mary Jo
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