To acknowledge, embrace, accept those 'dark nights of the soul' meant claiming myself. All of myself. My histories, stories, and who I was when no one watched.
Engage someone whose opinions make you bristle in a thoughtful conversation, lead with curiosity, ask more questions than you normally would, and really listen deeply and quietly to their answers.
Growing up with lifelong, untreated depression, death was anthropomorphic. And in the many decades I romanticized death, I could no more have created my own perfect match.
Usually, I honor Mary Magdalene as a disciple of Jesus as she is portrayed by the Gnostic Gospels, but I intend to share some of the more alternative 'explanations'.
A protective layer in a physical sense occurred, and it took the shape of gold-plated armor covering me. Now this may sound odd, and before mental health services are called, I will go on to define what I mean.