It is okay to love yourself without judgment. Love doesn’t judge. You don’t deserve judgment and pain from the one you are desperately in love with. This is not love. That is fear.
Love yourself fully. Love yourself until you are overflowing with it.
Love yourself speaking imperfectly.
Love yourself stumbling through ASL.
Love yourself Deaf.
Love yourself pre-cochlear implant, during cochlear implant and when it breaks on you.
Love yourself post-lingual deafness.
Love yourself when you mess up and again when your choices align with your intentions. Love yourself post pain.
Love yourself during pain.
Love yourself bright and horny, sad, angry, afraid, ashamed, isolated from friends and family, isolated from the Deaf community.
Love yourself afraid.
Love yourself demeaned, and controlled.
Love yourself confused, grasping for straight answers.
Love yourself as you realize you don’t deserve the pain.
Whatever you do, keep loving yourself until and after you are ready to leave.
[Editor's note: This poem was first published in the blog This Time for Reckoning on 4/5/12.]
