The Cruelty Standard

Metaphorical Narrative

Someone once said: “This is how you should be. Anything less is shame.”

Those words weren’t advice — they were a weapon. They carved an impossible standard that you carried like chains.

But you are not their prisoner. You decide the standards now.

Core Insight

Cruelty programs identity by creating impossible benchmarks. Ego enforces them relentlessly. Liberation comes by rejecting the grading system itself.

Saturday Experiment

1. When shame rises, ask: “Whose standard is this?”
2. Answer: “Not mine.”
3. Replace it with a self-standard: enough as I am.

Sunday Reflection

• What impossible standards appeared today?
• Did rejecting them weaken shame?
• How did self-owned standards feel?