Monday’s Meditation: On Authenticity

June 30, 2014

A reminder that there's nothing more important than being your authentic self.

There are so many lessons I’ve learned specifically through the writing of this blog and through being an active participant in the blogosphere.

The one that feels most key to me most days is the value of originality and authenticity.

I can so vividly recall my line of thought as I prepared to write my first few posts, “I’m going to be so concise, keep the language totally streamlined, and bombard them with pretty pictures because everybody hates to read and just wants to see the images.”

Blah blah.

My first posts? They were boring. You can go back through the archives if you like, but personally I wouldn’t bother because they’re boring. The writing is concise. But perhaps constipated would be more accurate. Oh, they’re fine, really. I still wrote them, after all, and so I am in there, but mostly they read as if they’re trying too hard. As if I was.

The day I decided to give myself permission to be myself on this blog everything changed.

It’s hard to pinpoint whether I started getting notable traffic because I had released myself from ill-formed inhibitions, or whether the growing stats made me realize self-consciousness was pointless because I no longer had any control over who might have been reading. Either way, I saw that I had a choice: say it how it was true for me and not care about how occasionally nonsensical, most often weird, and even sometimes bossy I might come off, or, well, that was the thing to do really because otherwise what would be the point?

Writing this blog is a labor of love for me, meaning that it’s an absurd amount of work and that the only way I’ve kept at it is because it offers me the chance to say it the way I think it needs to be said.

I want to inspire, motivate, amuse, entertain, and shame you all into changing (kidding, kidding). In order to do that, I have no choice but to keep it real, be aware not to cruelly offend, and have fun.

If this blog has proven anything to me, it’s that the facets of you that make you the person you are–that magical combination of quirks, opinions, strengths and curiosities that exists within you and no one else–makes you remarkable. That is what allows others to connect with you and your message.

If you’re under the impression that it’s best to pipe that authentic self down and strive to be unobjectionable, you’ve been misinformed.

We–the world–care what you have to say. We want to hear your unique perspective and we’ll love nothing more than knowing that voice is coming to us without having been overly censored.

In a time when comparison to others is arguably easier than it ever has been, there is nothing so as important as being true to yourself.

2 Comments

  1. David on June 30, 2014 at 8:41 pm

    The cowardly lion is not a coward because he is afraid. He is a coward because he is embarrassed by his fear. The

  2. Terri | Mama Bytes (@mamabytesau) on July 7, 2014 at 5:00 am

    This is the second time I have read something to this effect today alone – I have just started a new blogventure (woot for new words!), so this advice is paramount to me. I often think, “How could I be anything but myself?!” but I guess when you’re trying to be somewhat of an.. authority? … on a topic, it’s easy to get lost in the what and how, and not bring your true self through your writing.
    They often say (“they” being someone out there who knows how to string words together into something beautiful) that after looks have gone, it’s the personality that is left and that is who you fell in love with – words are words, they are the looks. It’s what shines through from underneath the words that is going to capture hearts and minds.

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2 Comments

  1. David on June 30, 2014 at 8:41 pm

    The cowardly lion is not a coward because he is afraid. He is a coward because he is embarrassed by his fear. The

  2. Terri | Mama Bytes (@mamabytesau) on July 7, 2014 at 5:00 am

    This is the second time I have read something to this effect today alone – I have just started a new blogventure (woot for new words!), so this advice is paramount to me. I often think, “How could I be anything but myself?!” but I guess when you’re trying to be somewhat of an.. authority? … on a topic, it’s easy to get lost in the what and how, and not bring your true self through your writing.
    They often say (“they” being someone out there who knows how to string words together into something beautiful) that after looks have gone, it’s the personality that is left and that is who you fell in love with – words are words, they are the looks. It’s what shines through from underneath the words that is going to capture hearts and minds.

Leave a Comment





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