👔 When most people say "I have standards"
They mean:
You're not good enough.
You don't fit.
You need to change.
You need to earn your place.
You need to perform.
Their standards are a gate.
A wall.
A weapon.
🔥 When I say "I have standards"
I mean:
I will not lie to you.
I will not let you stay small.
I will not cheer for your self-destruction.
I will not call your chains "holiness."
I will not pretend abuse is love.
I will not forgive you for things you keep doing.
My standards are a mirror.
A door.
A surgery table.
📜 The difference:
Their standards protect the system.
Mine protect the sheep.
Their standards demand performance.
Mine demand authenticity.
Their standards keep you out.
Mine invite you in — to become who you actually are.
🕯️ What my standards cost me:
People who thought I was "too much."
Jobs I didn't get.
Rooms I was asked to leave.
A mouth that won't shut up.
36 years of not fitting anywhere.
Worth it.
Every time someone looks in the mirror I hold up and says:
"Oh. That's why I've been so tired."
"Oh. That's why it never worked."
"Oh. That's who I actually am."
Worth it.
⚖️ What my standards require:
Of me:
· I speak truth even when silence pays better
· I examine my own heart before I examine yours
· I defend the vulnerable even when the powerful are watching
· I rest even though the work is never done
· I keep building even when no one is funding it
Of you:
Nothing you don't already owe yourself.
🌍 What my standards are NOT:
A license to judge.
A permission slip to cut people off.
A checklist to prove I'm better than you.
A shield against my own blind spots.
If I hold a standard to you, I have already held it to myself first.
If I name a pattern in you, I have already named it in myself.
If I ask you to change, I am already in the process of changing.
📢 So here they are. My standards.
For myself. For my work. For anyone who wants to walk with me.
1. Tell the truth.
Even when it costs you. Especially then.
2. Defend the vulnerable.
Not from a distance. Not with thoughts and prayers. With your hands.
3. Stop performing.
The mask is killing you. Take it off.
4. Forgive — but don't skip repentance.
Reconciliation is a two-way street. You can't carry someone across it.
5. Your body keeps receipts.
Learn to read them. Your emotions are intelligence, not weakness.
6. You are a god.
Psalm 82:6. Act like it. Stop begging for permission from people who are also gods and forgot.
7. Justice is now.
Not later. Not heaven. Not when it's convenient. Now.
8. Rest.
You are not your output. The world will not collapse if you stop for one day.
9. Build.
Don't just critique the old system. Build the new one.
10. Stay.
Not in abuse. Not in silence. Not in the room that's been on fire for years.
Stay in the work. Stay in the truth. Stay with the people who are also trying to stay.
🕊️ If these standards exhaust you:
Good.
They exhaust me too.
But they also free me.
And I've never met anyone who lived by society's standards and felt free.
Not one.
🔥 So I'll keep my standards.
The ones that cost me everything.
The ones that require me to keep growing.
The ones that hold a mirror to my own face before I ever hold it to yours.
They're not for everyone.
They're for the ones who know there has to be another way.
📜⚖️🕯️
#MyStandards #NotWeapons #Mirrors #Psalm82 #Unhooked
They mean:
You're not good enough.
You don't fit.
You need to change.
You need to earn your place.
You need to perform.
Their standards are a gate.
A wall.
A weapon.
🔥 When I say "I have standards"
I mean:
I will not lie to you.
I will not let you stay small.
I will not cheer for your self-destruction.
I will not call your chains "holiness."
I will not pretend abuse is love.
I will not forgive you for things you keep doing.
My standards are a mirror.
A door.
A surgery table.
📜 The difference:
Their standards protect the system.
Mine protect the sheep.
Their standards demand performance.
Mine demand authenticity.
Their standards keep you out.
Mine invite you in — to become who you actually are.
🕯️ What my standards cost me:
People who thought I was "too much."
Jobs I didn't get.
Rooms I was asked to leave.
A mouth that won't shut up.
36 years of not fitting anywhere.
Worth it.
Every time someone looks in the mirror I hold up and says:
"Oh. That's why I've been so tired."
"Oh. That's why it never worked."
"Oh. That's who I actually am."
Worth it.
⚖️ What my standards require:
Of me:
· I speak truth even when silence pays better
· I examine my own heart before I examine yours
· I defend the vulnerable even when the powerful are watching
· I rest even though the work is never done
· I keep building even when no one is funding it
Of you:
Nothing you don't already owe yourself.
🌍 What my standards are NOT:
A license to judge.
A permission slip to cut people off.
A checklist to prove I'm better than you.
A shield against my own blind spots.
If I hold a standard to you, I have already held it to myself first.
If I name a pattern in you, I have already named it in myself.
If I ask you to change, I am already in the process of changing.
📢 So here they are. My standards.
For myself. For my work. For anyone who wants to walk with me.
1. Tell the truth.
Even when it costs you. Especially then.
2. Defend the vulnerable.
Not from a distance. Not with thoughts and prayers. With your hands.
3. Stop performing.
The mask is killing you. Take it off.
4. Forgive — but don't skip repentance.
Reconciliation is a two-way street. You can't carry someone across it.
5. Your body keeps receipts.
Learn to read them. Your emotions are intelligence, not weakness.
6. You are a god.
Psalm 82:6. Act like it. Stop begging for permission from people who are also gods and forgot.
7. Justice is now.
Not later. Not heaven. Not when it's convenient. Now.
8. Rest.
You are not your output. The world will not collapse if you stop for one day.
9. Build.
Don't just critique the old system. Build the new one.
10. Stay.
Not in abuse. Not in silence. Not in the room that's been on fire for years.
Stay in the work. Stay in the truth. Stay with the people who are also trying to stay.
🕊️ If these standards exhaust you:
Good.
They exhaust me too.
But they also free me.
And I've never met anyone who lived by society's standards and felt free.
Not one.
🔥 So I'll keep my standards.
The ones that cost me everything.
The ones that require me to keep growing.
The ones that hold a mirror to my own face before I ever hold it to yours.
They're not for everyone.
They're for the ones who know there has to be another way.
📜⚖️🕯️
#MyStandards #NotWeapons #Mirrors #Psalm82 #Unhooked