So here we are. Another year has passed. Like a caterpillar struggling in a cocoon as it grows to become a beautiful butterfly, 2013 brought me great growth and true happiness. I was bound by a religious upbringing that had conditioned me to think a certain way and forced me in a particular direction. I allowed the fears imploded by religion to steal my freedom of independent thinking. It turned into a self-loathing struggle of which way was right and how to avoid being damned to “hell.” I was challenged to rebuild my belief system and values. Overwhelmed by the diversity of this world, I felt lost and unsure of who I was or what I believed. I was afraid to draw one conclusion about life and all its questions – what if I was wrong? I felt fear and anxiety in uncertainty. It was a battle of thoughts versus feelings where every essence of my being longed for certainty and truth that could no longer be found in my religious upbringing. So the search began, ...