Being true to oneself is the greatest gift we can give to ourselves. We are so conditioned to fit in the mold’s society has created for us. If we do not fit in any of those molds, we are labeled as difficult, non-conforming, outcasts, and whatever else. As a result, we become something or someone we are not.
We try our hardest to fit in. To belong. To fit the image that was imprinted into us of how we are supposed to be, look, act, think, and talk. Leaving us exhausted, unhappy, and depressed. We have no clue why we feel this way. Or worse, we beat ourselves up for feeling like failures and outcasts.
Stop it! Once you start accepting your true self and fully love who you are, you realize that being yourself is the best way to be. Trust me, I know firsthand… My whole life, until not so long ago, I tried to fit into any mold society has created. Fact is, I NEVER fit in any of them! Yes, being on the larger side of things probably had something to do with it.
For most of my life I have tried to adapt and fit in. With my family growing up. Clearly, that didn’t work. With my peers in school, I never belonged to any clique but had friends in all of them. Being a military spouse and mom, it got better but the struggles were real. Then, once the kids were old enough, the workforce. When that didn’t work out, I dipped my toes into entrepreneurship.
Even then, I thought I had to get at ‘legitimate profession’. One with a license and that was acceptable to the people around me. Boy was I miserable! Can you relate? Are you following the footsteps of your family? Are you in a position that you actually love and want to be in, or are you in a place because it was expected of you?
Once I decided to stop pretending to be someone I am not, everything started to shift. More and more I stepped into myself. My true self. It all really began on 1 April 2018. That day, I decided to stop doing what I was doing and follow my heart and my desire. It was the first step of being free and becoming me.
Make no mistake, it didn’t happen overnight, and I am still working on it as I am writing this. Once I decided to ‘do me’, I still followed the norms society has imposed on me. In order to let people know about my book and business, I felt I had to go to a ton of networking events. Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing events and I have met some wonderful people. However, I never felt I belonged. I didn’t fit. I put on a show being someone I thought I was supposed to be to fit into that mold.
Not gonna lie, Coronacation was the best thing that happened to me personally. With the quarantine, just like everyone else, I was forced to stay home and shift my focus. Turns out, I am actually an extroverted introvert. During that time, I was forced to spend time with me. The true me. It sure was an eye-opener! Then of course, earlier this year, the whole cancer thing.
Nothing like being faced with your mortality and the uncertainty of life to really put things into perspective! Today, as I am writing this blog, I look at myself and I am proud of who I am. I am proud of being myself. Today, I am another step closer of being my fully, authentic self. There is still some work that needs to be done to release all those limiting belief remnants, but they are leaving one by one and faster and faster.
One of my biggest fears has always been being judged by others. Truth is, someone is ALWAYS judging us! To someone, we are always too fat, too thin, too happy, too sad, too rich, too poor, too pretty, too ugly, too this and too that. The sooner you accept this, the sooner you’ll be able to set yourself free!
BE YOURSELF!!! Don’t be a copy or an image just to please those around you. You’ll never be able to do that, so you might as well simply be your amazing, imperfect, perfect self. Those who matter won’t mind, and those who mind, don’t matter!
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