Living Authentically

Living authentically. What does that even mean? Don’t we all just wake up being ourselves and go about our days being authentic naturally?

Hardly!

Most people are showing the world who they pretend to be but not who they really are. Why? Because showing our true selves with all the good, bad, and ugly-shit we carry around is scary. It’s scary to expose the parts of ourselves that we don’t’ really like. The parts that we are ashamed of. The parts that we wish were different. The parts that scare us. It’s easier to put on a smile and a nice outfit and just pretend that everything is perfect.

But that’s not truly living. Truly living is being real. It’s being open. It’s being honest. It’s living authentically.

Ok, so how do we do that?

We take off our masks.

We all wear masks at times that hide who we really are. We do this somewhat unconsciously and out of habit, but mainly we do this because we are afraid of being judged by other people. We worry that if people saw us for who we truly are, they might not like us as much, and they might even lose respect for us.

But why do we care what other people think of us? Why do we feel the need to pretend to be someone or something we’re not? Why aren’t we more comfortable in our own skin?

Because we are human. We’ve let society tell us what we “should” be, how we “should” act, what is “normal” and what is “right”.

We need to stop.

Wearing masks makes life more difficult because it takes extra energy to keep up the façade. We put the masks on when we need them and take them off when we don’t. On and off and on and off. It’s a tiring process!

Your masks may be big or small, and you may not wear them every day, but I’m guessing you do wear them more often than you realize. Take a close look at how you are living your life and be honest with yourself about how authentic you are.

Take a moment to think about what masks you wear and why? How often do you wear them? Do you wear one mask more than another? What are you gaining from wearing each mask and what might you be giving up?

The more authentic you live your life, the more free you will feel. Initially, when you decide to take off your masks, you will likely still have some fear of what other people will think of you. But as time goes on you will feel more at ease being true to who you are and you will become more comfortable without your masks. You will learn not to care what other people think because you will have realized that it doesn’t matter. What matters is only what you think. It’s your life and you get to live it your way.

I believe the more authentic you are, the better you will feel. By living true to who you are, you will see your life evolve into something magical, and even more beautiful.

So be YOU, be AMAZING, take off the masks, and LIVE AUTHENTICALLY.