I’m trying. I swear.

In a lot of instances, I’ve been trying by sheltering myself from the people and situations that I’m judgmental about. I think that’s the wrong method because then when I am around them, I’m all shocked and appalled. Also, it makes me anti-social. There isn’t really a polite way to say “I don’t want to go visit that person because I’m working on not judging them.”

My other method is to tell myself “This is their choice. I don’t have to live it. They do. This works for them. I live only my own choices.” But I think that’s just rephrasing my judgment because it eventually turns into “I’m so glad that I make choices that are good for my preferred lifestyle”. Which is a slippery slope toward “Wow, I’m so glad I’m not that person…”. And then, yes, it gets worse. It turns into me telling the boyfriend, “See, this is why I nag at you to pick up your socks from the living room, aren’t you glad our house doesn’t look like so-and-so’s house. Living in filth works for them, and it might have even worked for you in the past. But it doesn’t work for me and now that you’ve been living in a clean-ish home for 6 months, can’t you now see how disgusting the alternative is?”

Sigh. I have a long way to go.