Reevaluating Worldview

Imagine a couple returning from the hospital with their new baby. They walk into their little house, and they take the baby to a window to see the world outside. They show him the wonders of the world through that window. They point out the things to avoid and the things to trust.

Every day, they take their baby to that same window to look out at the same scene. All the while reinforcing how everything within view of that window is how the world actually is.

The baby grows into a child, then a young adult, never seeing the world in any other way. He accepts as reality the world he has always known. Others have tried to show him windows that look out upon different scenes, but he is not interested in any other perspective. To look out a different window would be a betrayal of everything he has learned.

As all maturing adults must do, he moves out on his own. He tries to take the window with him, but it becomes cloudy from lack of maintenance. Eventually, he can barely see out of the window anymore. So, he decides to look out another window. A friend’s window. A lover’s window. The more windows he looks through, the more the window of his youth shrinks. He realizes that the view he thought was the reality, was very limited in perspective. It wasn’t the whole story.

So, what does he do? What would you do if you had lived your life based upon a worldview that you found out was inaccurate?

Many people do everything they can to avoid coming face to face with that kind of paradigm shift. They carefully maintain the perspective they were raised with, so they never suffer the trauma that comes with having their worldview collapse around them.

However, we live in the information age. We get flooded with new information on a constant basis, which questions everything we have ever known. It is almost impossible to maintain a consistent worldview as we expose ourselves to different sources of information, growing and evolving as human beings.

My Initial Worldview

The window my parents showed me looked out on a world destined for annihilation. It was a world of wickedness that deserved God’s wrath.

At some point, that worldview stopped working for me. I couldn’t take the fear, judgment, and negativity. I felt like I was dying from the inside out.

I was nearing 40 when I finally reached my breaking point. I had already invested heavily in my parent’s worldview and as that belief system died, its death throes were significant. Internally, my subconscious mind was endeavoring to seize control. I longed to tear at my chest and scream in an attempt to rid myself of the feeling that I was being buried alive.

It was years before I had the mental strength to take a sledgehammer to my parent’s window and feel the fresh air on my skin after being trapped behind their stifling perspective.

My first thought was of beautiful freedom. Like I was able to fill my lungs for the first time… ever.

Then came the resentment. I had given the best years of my life to something that wasn’t true. I worked menial jobs and didn’t go to college, so I could spend all my resources serving a corporation that claimed it represented God.

I was angry. My life was almost over and what did I have to show for it? Who decides to start over at 40? I lost my friends. I lost my family. I lost my community.

That was six years ago. Since then I have started living life on my terms. I have taken on habits that have helped me to heal from the anger and resentment. My life is so good now I have to pinch myself to make sure it is happening.

I moved 3000 miles away from a community that evicted me when I stopped believing. I have re-established a life that is focused on healing, personal growth and helping others.

I think back to the time I spent living according to someone else’s standards as a dark dungeon-like existence. I can’t help but feel profound pity for anyone still experiencing the burden of it. I wouldn’t go back for anything. Not even for all the money in the world. I realize now that freedom is worth more than anything else. Having the ability to choose my destiny is priceless. Choosing the people I will surround myself with is a privilege I never knew until recently.

I’m here to say don’t be afraid to smash whatever window, or perspective, is not serving you. Don’t be afraid to alter your worldview – even multiple times if necessary. Growth requires that we change and adapt as we gather new information.

I’ve seen a lot of people who left the same belief system I did who won’t move past it. They don’t heal. They continue regurgitating the resentment and anger over the things they felt were robbed from them.

Losing one’s belief system is like seeing someone you love die. You will go through the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. If you never move past the anger stage, you don’t grow. If you’re not growing, you might as well be back where you started.

Stages of RecoveryReevaluating Worldview Two

So, where do you go after you burn the bridges that connect you to a belief system? Healing is the first step. Professional counseling may be in order. Journaling, meditation, energy healing, removing yourself from the toxic environment, and time – lots of time.

Grief takes time to heal. Don’t push yourself or you won’t heal completely. But don’t get stuck in the healing mode either. I felt so alienated as I was trying to recover that I became agoraphobic. I was afraid to leave the house. Social obligations overwhelmed me. I had isolated myself to the point of social dysfunction.

If you’ve been healing for so long that you get to the point of being a complete shut-in, it is time to move on. Try achievement for awhile. If there is something that still needs healing, it will rear its ugly head eventually. (For more information on the three levels of growth, listen to the podcast on the HAT Model.)

The first few years after I left my belief system, I had nightmares about it. At first, the former friends would just look at me with disgust but as time went on the dreams became more violent. Almost every night I would dream that the people who used to love me wanted to kill me. They were an angry mob hunting me down as I ran through a dark forest.

The final dream happened as I was attending a Reiki Workshop. I had gotten a lot of energetic work during the workshop and apparently it brought on a shift. In the last dream, I was trapped inside my parent’s house while an angry mob surrounded it. I heard something in one of the back bedrooms and when I went to investigate, a woman was crawling through the window. She was dressed in black. I knew she was an assassin. I assumed she was there to kill me. She jumped down from the windowsill and walked slowly toward me. I thought I was about to die. They had finally gotten to me.

“What should I do to them?” she asked me. Suddenly, I realized she was there to serve me. She was my assassin. Somehow, the tables had turned and I was no longer the victim.

That was a couple of years ago. Since then, I have continued getting energetic treatments and have noticed incredible changes in my self-confidence and worldview. I continue to meditate and journal.

The first time I ever experienced gratitude was after my parent’s belief system had officially evicted me. Since then, the gratitude has continued to grow on a daily basis. It now rests permanently just over my heart as a warm spot that reminds me of how much I have to be thankful for, and what it cost to be where I am. The capital of Switzerland has so much to offer. From nightclubs, strip bars and sauna clubs to high-end escort services, every man will find what he’s looking for here. So why not treat yourself to a pretty Escort from Bern and fuck her all night long? The ladies are top professionals and know how to give hot blowjobs, ride a hard cock and satisfy men properly. You can relax and enjoy or become active yourself and fuck the woman hard.

I wouldn’t change any of it.

Give yourself permission to change your worldview. Keep your mind open enough to be able to contemplate other perspectives and reevaluate your viewpoints.

If you have spent your life looking out the same window, is it authentic to you? How many other windows have you looked through? Does your worldview make you a better person? Are you able to grow and evolve within your current worldview?

This article is not meant to indicate that a faith based belief system is a sign of a closed mind. I have met many open-minded people who are people of faith. My purpose in writing this article is to encourage an honest appraisal of your worldview. Worldviews aren’t always faith based. They can be political or social. They can even be personal, such as the belief that you are a victim or undeserving of love and/or success.

No matter how you express your belief, if it is disempowering to you, then you need to reevaluate. Life should not be endured. We are meant to thrive. Do whatever you need to do to create the life for which you can be grateful.

Want to learn more?

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11 comments

  • Chelsea Welch
    • Chelsea Welch
    • September 22, 2016 at 9:10 pm

    What an incredibly inspirational story, Charis! Your strength is so inspiring and I hope to one day be able to let go of the things that are holding me back as well, just as you have so bravely done :) Thank you for the practical suggestions as well! I will definitely be working on implementing some of these in my own journey. I also like that you point out it’s ok to be in an achievement phase and have the healing phase pull you back. I always beat myself up when that happens and thus I end up staying stuck in the healing phase for fear of failure in the achievement phase, but I’m realizing now that this is the natural and only way of going about it. Fantastic and beautiful article!

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