I’ve met quite a few people who struggle with the topic of religion the older they get. Maybe they’ve lost faith or are just lost in faith and don’t know where to go. Sometimes it’s a tricky topic to bring up and other times it can be an open conversation. But how important is it to label or claim a religion?
A few years ago I watched a spoken word video that really resonated with me because I was taking Catholic classes for years to get through all the Sacraments, but the older I got the more I disagreed with the church.
My dad wasn’t religious and my mom raised me as a Catholic, but she herself jumped from church to church to figure out which one was the best for her. The video basically spoke about how faith is more important than religion. That’s when I started to disassociate with the church.
I stopped going to Catholic church but was still praying when I was in a tough situation and found that it wasn’t working that well for me. Freshman and sophomore year I joined an on campus, non-denominational church and although it had a lovely community, I still couldn’t fit into the mold they were trying to put me in.
I cussed, I drank, I danced, I felt broken and didn’t think I would ever find a religion that suited me. So I stopped trying to find a place I could fit in and just started saying I was spiritual. It was a true statement though because I believed in a God but I also believed in energies that the universe had.
I believed in spirits and angels and meditation and a few other things that would label me as a bruja, like tarot, the law of attraction, manipulating energies. Once I started finding what worked for me, I finally felt at peace. I still wear a cross on my neck everyday and go to Catholic mass on occasion just because it’s a familiar place to me. It reminds me of why I’m doing what I’m doing, but I finally don’t feel like an outsider, despite what others may think.
The main reason I’m writing this whole thing is to encourage you to find what works for you and embrace it. Maybe it’s finding a different church or a new religion. Maybe it’s scrapping religion and church as a whole and starting fresh and focusing on yourself. You shouldn’t have to force yourself to fit into a mold if you know it’s not what’s meant for you. We’re all unique beings and that means our beliefs will be unique as well.