Why Being Yourself Matters

I heard something in one of my morning-commute podcasts that left me with thoughts. And you know what happens when I have thoughts!

Here’s the thing I heard: Everyone craves freedom, and has the desire to be liberated. including liberation from the anxiety that’s caused from not being your true self.

Let me repeat the important part - Not being your true self can cause anxiety.

I know this statement has merit, because I experienced it. The entirety of 2017, I was living it. And 2016. Actually, probably most of the last three years, when my life choices led me to places where I felt I had to hide behind a certain persona.

And when I heard those words this morning, I thought about all the ways in which we humans struggle for the freedom to just be ourselves. Like the women who just want to explore the possibilities that come with learning, but are told they have to live a different life.

Or the men who are told that feelings are for the weak.

Or the Moms who parent a little differently from the crowd.

People with creative hair colors, bright nail polish and artistic skills; and people who prefer books over bars, or adventure over academics. Anyone who feels like they have to hide little bits of themselves.

Even the youngest among us, who just want to dance around the living room in a cape because it’s fun and it’s joyful and it fills their soul, even they know the feeling of being told to stop. To change. To be something else.

And even though it gets easier with time, even if it’s just for a little while, or just in one place, or just with one person, not being your true self is painful.

I hope you can find a way today to expose a little bit of your true self today. I know that can be hard to do too. And scary. But put on your crazy nail polish or your wild shoes or do that one thing that makes you feel most connected to your identity and the gifts you were created with.

I believe that once we become more accepting of the gifts we were given, we can start the work of sharing those gifts with others, and live in the way we were meant to live: as a loving community.