Be authentically yourself

Be authentically yourself:

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Be authentically yourself.

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Always.

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Don’t hide.

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Don’t pretend.

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Don’t overthink it.

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Just be you.

The weird you.

The authentic you.

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The strange you.

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Always be you.

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Kevin Kelly had a line in a Tim Ferriss interview that has stuck with me for years.

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‘Your goal in life is to be able to say on the day before you die that you have fully become yourself.’

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That’s it.

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That’s the goal.

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We play pretend our whole lives.

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Especially as kids.

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Putting on a mask based on what our parents taught us.

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Or what we saw around us.

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We were shaped by our experiences.

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And through that, we learned to adapt.

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How to adapt to people.

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To circumstances.

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To environments.

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Like a chameleon changing colours based on what tree it’s on.

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Some of us had good role models.

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Healthy environments.

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Positive influences.

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But others did not.

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Alcoholic parents.

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People who abuse drugs.

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Those who neglected you.

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Who didn’t take care of you.

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Figuring out how to people-please.

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And with that, we lost ourselves.

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We lost our way.

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We’re not able to be the person we want to be.

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Why?

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Judgement.

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Other people’s.

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But really, your own.

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You’re scared.

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Scared to show people who you really are.

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Who your authentic self is.

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Scared to be you.

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They have an idea about you in their head.

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And they’re trying to figure out how you mould to that idea.

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So you mould yourself to that idea.

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Forget that idea.

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Stop thinking about what they’re thinking about you.

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Why do you value other people’s opinions of you more than your own opinion of you?

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That’s insane.

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Literally insane behaviour.

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Stop.

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Please.

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Instead, find yourself.

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Look inside yourself.

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Ask questions of yourself.

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Be curious.

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Who are you?

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How do you think?

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Why do you think the things you think?

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Who hurt you?

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Who supported you?

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Who loves you and why?

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Who are your role models?

Who do you listen to?

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What do you want to achieve?

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What do you want to do in this life?

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Why?

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The journey to understand yourself is the most important journey you will take in your life.

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Most people never choose to do it.

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Life gets too busy.

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Too many things to juggle.

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But also too many excuses.

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People don’t want to face themselves in the mirror.

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They’re scared of what they see.

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Instead of understanding themselves, they rush to judge themselves.

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Why?

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How their subconscious was built.

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How their parents were.

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How they grew up from when they were 0-5.

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All of that shapes them.

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It gives them an idea of their own identity that’s not even real.

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It’s constructed.

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A story inside your head of what you can and cannot be.

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Burn that story.

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The story that is not helping you.

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Let go of it.

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Remind yourself.

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You are loved.

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You are capable.

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You are whole, perfect, smart, powerful, loving, harmonious and happy.

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One of my favourite lines from a book I read recently.

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So great that I wrote it on a Post-it note and have it on my bathroom mirror as a reminder.

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Stop doubting yourself.

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Believe in yourself.

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Tell yourself how great you are.

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Even if no one else believes it.

You are great.

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The world just hasn’t seen it yet.

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Because you’ve been hiding.

Hiding that amazing incredible version that everyone wants to see.

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And you will only get there by being yourself.

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By finding yourself.

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By discovering yourself.

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By allowing yourself to be free to be who you want to be, and not what other people want you to be.

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Go be yourself.

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Be authentically yourself.

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