Be Authentic

It is too easy to be someone else. It is hard being yourself. We live in a world today that allows us to easily create personas of different versions of ourselves so we can find communities and groups to engage. A place we can fit in or be part of something, even though it doesn’t align with our true selves in fear of missing out. The internet and now the metaverse becomes a playground where we can experiment and play, showing only part of ourselves or even a completely different person we’ve made up. This can be valuable, but often it takes you to an alternate world or person, all for a like or a thumbs up or a follow. Using the veil of anonymity within social media platforms, our society slowly becomes less authentic and unique. Rather, it’s become filled with large groups conforming around simplistic ideas where the people fear being tossed aside if they disagree. Worse, they become part of a mob that looks to squash another mob with opposite extreme ideas. We’re becoming mobs with no distinct character, values or ability for critical thinking. How do you avoid this?

Have the courage to be authentic. What does this mean?

Simply, be the version of yourself today that you believe in, and not a version that’s been defined by others around your environment.

This is hard because our society is designed to push you into one of the predefined labels. You have to be Left, Right, Smoker, Non-Smoker, Vaccinated, Unvax, White, Black, Rich, Poor, or whatever other term du jour there is. There’s so many agents all designed to create a version of you that fits nicely into our world to play a bit part, that this becomes a daily challenge. We are introduced to new information daily impacting our views and making it easy to just follow certain dogmas without questioning it. Finally, as we grow, we are in a mode of constant discovery trying to establish who we really are even without all of the noise thrown in our faces.

This is why you have to Be brave. It take’s courage and intelligence to find nuance and context before taking a stance. Your stance from your point of view aligning with your current principles. Block out the noise and hone in on one thing. That’s yourself. Your soul. Your heart. Dig deep and remember the first principles you learned when you were a kid. When life was still pure, and your mind hasn’t been programmed by various agents our world sent your way. Being authentic is defining what you believe in, your values and principles you defined yourself to follow towards happiness and fulfillment. Most likely, your parents, family or close friends or mentor have influenced this version as you grew; however only you can design and enhance the best version of YOU. Don’t allow others to come in and change this version to fit their own narrative, and make you just another character in their lives. Being authentic allows you to play the lead in your own show, and write a story in the most meaningful way for yourself.

Be authentic. Authenticity will attract the right people for you. The right people that fit in your narrative and life, even for specific phases. So how can we go about being authentic?

Start your day with finding the best version of yourself from yesterday. Remove anything that doesn’t align with your values, morals, or principles. Then tackle the day with an aim to only improve this version, before repeating it again tomorrow. Be open to changing yourself for the better. Defend your authentic self with all your might from being mindlessly altered by others. This repetition and small acts daily will compound over weeks, months and years. All the while, you’re not straying too far away from your core. Being authentic is a constant battle, but it is a battle worth fighting because it is the only path towards a happy life.

It is too easy to be someone else. It is hard being yourself. Never lose sight of your best version, because once you do, finding it becomes harder and harder each passing day. Eventually, you become a supporting cast in another person’s life. Ultimately, your role and impact diminishes and you will look back in life with regrets.