Many of us have lived our entire lives with a deep, dark secret: we fear that if we showed the world our true selves – the dorky, not-so-cool, don’t-have-it-all-figured-out selves – we wouldn’t be accepted.

We worry that the person who we really are wouldn’t be welcomed in this world. And we worry about the biggest consequence of all – that we wouldn’t be loved.

 

And that’s scary. Because at our core, that’s all any of us want. That’s it. Just to be loved. By ourselves and by others.

So it makes perfect sense that we hide our vulnerabilities and our imperfections and instead show the world our “representative” – who we think we should be.

And we all do it – we all play the game. Until one day, the need to break free from this mask and this role and scream to the world, “This is me!” becomes too big to contain any longer. We are exhausted from trying to keep ourselves hidden and perfect. We are tired of trying to be the person that we imagine everyone wants us to be.

And so we bravely take one step forward. And we bravely say (sometimes in a whisper at first): Here I am.

And then we shrink a little bit. And we wait. Fully expecting the rocks to be thrown and the names to be called and the friends to leave and the isolation to begin.

And we keep waiting. And waiting.

But what actually happens is in sharing our truth, we allow others to do the same. So instead of being shunned, we are embraced. Instead of being hated, we are loved.

This is what I have found to be true most of the time. I have lived a large part of my life shying away from outing the parts of me that may be seen as “weird” or “out there” or a bit “woo woo.” But what I’ve found is that the more I share these parts of who I am and what I truly believe, the more I am embraced and applauded and loved. How amazing is that?

You know why? Because we all love authenticity. We can smell it a mile away. And we are drawn to it. We love it when someone steps into their power. The energy and high that we get from watching someone show the world their true self transfers over to us, and we find ourselves stepping into our own power because of it.

I was afraid to talk about the soul and spirituality and the afterlife and my personal beliefs and all of these big topics that so many of us are curious about and maybe are a bit timid to bring up. I definitely was – and still you stayed and supported me. You never judged.

And I thank you for that. Your openness is making it so much easier for me to come out fully as I am. And I hope that my openness makes it easier for you to do the same.

Now, I’m definitely not Pollyanna. I know that there are times where we come out as ourselves and that part isn’t loved and appreciated. I know this. And not having this love and support in our time of vulnerability can be devastating. This is when we really need to go to our core tribe of friends who will support us and love us no matter what. I suggest sharing your authentic self with them first and working your way out to potential authenticity squashers. You’ll get stronger and will be more ready for any opposition this way. In fact, you’ll be so strong and sure of who you are that you’ll most likely find that it simply will no longer matter whether this person or that person doesn’t approve. You’ll be so strong in who you are that their approval will no longer determine your actions or your happiness. It will come from within by then – you will be so proud of yourself for showing up as you that no other love and approval will be needed.

And getting to this point just takes one brave step forward. One step into the light where you let the world know that you are here. And that this is who you are. And that you are enough. More than enough. You are wonderful and perfect and beautiful and brave all wrapped up into one soul that lights up the world.

That is you at your strongest. That is each of us when we are fully living in our truth.

And that is what I wish for us all.

 

 

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