It is incredibly easy to be confused by the tides of life, and by our impression of ourselves. Having a secure and firm knowledge of yourself and your surroundings often means you’re not taking an open-minded enough approach. After all, if we were only ever 100% sure of ourselves, we would have no need to grow, evolve, and move forward in our lives. The same goes for the circumstances in our life.
Wishing to become a more authentic person can be hard to do. But we know it’s something we would like to achieve. We know it would help us live according to our truth, to defend ourselves more readily, to be more open to those we admire, and more tolerant of those we don’t. However, it can be hard to define ‘authenticity.’ Surely even in our struggles to be authentic, we are being our authentic selves in that moment? You see how confusion can build.
What matters is your feeling, and how you chase it, provided you understand the essential elements of self-care in your quest for actualization. Let us explore personal authenticity together, and what changes you might make to encourage a more wholesome sense of you:
Help Others:
It can be extremely easy to fall into a sense of solipsism. Only concerned with our own issues, we develop a pervasive sense of tunnel-vision. It can make us much less thoughtful of others and less receptive to their ideas. Sometimes, to overcome this, taking a positive step by helping others can be worthwhile. But it’s important you don’t do this simply to ‘improve yourself’. Help others because you want to. Because there might be a cause that you think is worthy, or there’s a person you’d like to assist.
It doesn’t have to be a monetary form of help, either. Simply helping your grandmother attend that theater show she might love to see, helping someone cross the road, or even standing up for someone in a heated debate can all be forms of helping someone. When we do that, and do it genuinely, we can feel a sense of connection. Just ensure the help is consented to first of all, and you won’t make any accidental mistakes.
Like What You Like:
It can be very easy to dissuade ourselves of our interests. For example, it could be that we absolutely adore playing tabletop games with a community of our peers. But because of our highly-entrepreneurial and motivated workplace, we are surrounded by those who live and breathe work. We can feel pressure to fall in line with them, especially because we are often socially comprised to the five closest people to us. But should you worry about that? We’re not entirely convinced.
Feeling more authentic in your skin is often tantamount to simply accepting yourself, and accepting what you like. If you wish to start gardening, clay animation, painting, dancing, or anything that you would consider out of your ‘identity norms’, then go for it! Life is about trying new things and anyone who turns their nose down to your new hobbies clearly doesn’t have your best intentions in mind.
Stop Worrying About It:
Telling anyone to ‘stop worrying’ when they are worrying is often a somewhat shallow strategy. But in this case, as long as you go to bed knowing that you’ve done your best that day, then it is more than enough. To become authentic does not mean being the best-dressed, the most handsome, performing the highest standing jump, or doing the best cartwheel. It simply means being you, whatever that means, right now.
With these tips – we hope you can find yourself fondly and enjoy all life has to offer!
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