Thanks to Dazygal,
who made me think about this subject.
My comment on her blog ended up
being expanded to these thoughts.
When Lash and I first started DD,
I thought of the changes in my behavior as
#1) a duty that I owed to Lash as my husband,
part of my hope to improve our marriage.
A side benefit was
#2) that I would get the spankings I craved.
And, honestly, #1 and #2 may have been reversed
in my subconscious mind and, at times, consciously.
I wanted to get spanked and DD was the means.
Looking back, it was a kind of bribe:
"I'll act like I'm an obedient wife and
then I'll get what I want."
Gradually, I began to see submission and obedience
as gifts that I gave him out of my love and respect
and desire to make him happy.
I began to see what it did for Lash
as well as what I got out of it.
Just recently, Lash wrote this in an email:
"I am living the life that I have always wanted
and have the relationship with you
I have always wanted.
I feel so masculine and strong."
Seeing this in him has been a huge incentive
to continue on this journey.
Lately though, I have begun to feel that
my submission and obedience are primarily
gifts that I give myself.
Anything less is dishonest and disrespectful
to my own sense of who I am.
Of course, they are also gifts to Lash -
but I have to feel good about myself first
in order for them to be valuable to him.
I am submissive and obedient
because he has helped me
to find these qualities deep within me
and helped me to express them openly
without fear, without shame, without anger.
They are aspects of who I am and to deny them
would be to deny the person I am becoming.
So it doesn't occur to me to try to
avoid submitting or obeying
by tricks or lying or manipulation.
That would only be deceiving Lash and myself.
Neither one of us deserve that.
Does this make any sense?
Has anyone else gone through similar stages?