Deconstruction is beautiful but we need to be mindful that it doesn’t always feel good in the process.
I recently saw a quote floating around on Facebook that said, “Remember, growing might feel like breaking at first” and I don’t know anything more relevant to Deconstruction.
The thing is, when we are growing, maturing, pivoting, etc, it can be messy. It can hurt and be painful and look ugly. It can feel wrong yet right all at the same time. And we can’t ignore it. Most of us go through some form of Deconstruction at some point in our lives if not more than once. While we can deconstruct nearly anything in our lives, it can especially be a messy thing to deconstruct Religion and Politics.
So, how do we deconstruct in a healthy way?
It’s Important to Always Have Anchor Points
This week, Cody and I answered some questions from our NOMADs community about our current faith journey on the podcast. Most of the questions revolved around the idea of Deconstruction and what to do when questioning your beliefs. One of the things that really stood out to me was when Cody mentioned the importance of having anchor points.
Anytime you have strong beliefs that suddenly feel so strange and small, it’s important to have anchor points. It’s necessary that you have a foundation that you can lean on and return to, if necessary.
It helps to have those few key points that you run your Deconstruction through. Anytime you have a new thought or belief that you feel might be changing, go back to those things that ring true to you.
I would love to say, “let your anchor be Jesus” because I’ve always been able to run my thought process through. But I know for a lot of people, Jesus is still something they are having to discover for themselves. As much as I’d like to believe that there is always a universal anchor point, I also realize that I can’t assume this works for everyone. Or at least the same way for everyone.
But the beautiful thing that I do always come back to is this:
We are all on a spiritual journey, and we can’t expect everyone’s journey to look the same.
That’s why it’s a process for a reason. We have to figure out what those anchor points are and what we are able to fall back on.
You Can’t Adequately Deconstruct Everything at Once
There is another reason why I believe that you should have anchor points if you plan on deconstructing…
It’s dangerous to deconstruct everything all at once.
Why?
Because there is a difference in deconstruction and being destructive. When you rid yourself of everything, you have nothing. I do not advise coming in with a wrecking ball and destroying everything in your path. Those anchor points help guide you in the right direction. It’s necessary to have areas in your life that you hold truth against and seek for yourself.
When you deconstruct everything at once, it produces breeding grounds for resentment and depression. If you don’t have something to fall back on, it can become lonely. It’s hard already having to reevaluate everything, but it’s another thing to strip your entire identity. Yes, we should periodically check ourselves and evaluate where we’re at in life. But, we shouldn’t throw everything out the window without fully understanding where the baggage is going.
Deconstruction is Beautiful But it is a Messy Process
However, this shouldn’t stop you from growing. Like I previously mentioned, deconstruction is beautiful but we must proceed with caution. Remember to find things in the process that you still love about your thought life and old beliefs that you once held onto. Just because you no longer ascribe to a specific idea doesn’t mean you can’t find beauty in what does work for you.
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