The Importance of Living An Authentic Life
At a young age, many learn the art of pretending. You learn that there is a small sense of power in hiding behind a façade and not revealing who you truly are to the outside world. At some point, the things you desire to keep secret or keep to yourself become the very things that hinder you from growing and learning to accept who you are at your core.
What does being authentic mean?
au·then·tic
/ôˈTHen(t)ik/
of undisputed origin; genuine.
"the letter is now accepted as an authentic document."
(in existentialist philosophy) relating to or denoting an emotionally appropriate, significant, purposive, and responsible mode of human life.
conforming to an original to reproduce essential features
not false or imitation: REAL, ACTUAL
I can recall feeling incredibly stifled in the early years of my life. I was often tormented for what I love, found interest in, or being afraid to explore what made me happy. Over time, I found myself pretending and denying the things I loved because I desperately wanted others to approve of me or accept me. It was a long road on my journey to accept myself and become deeply rooted in who I was authentically.
It took a hell of a lot of self-love, self-awareness, and personal knowledge to grow into not feeling the need to take on any identity other than my own. Living authentically requires strength. You truly have to like/love who you are to show up as yourself proudly. You have to like yourself enough to break away from adopting a false sense of self. Your desire to be somebody else hinders your healthy relationship with yourself.
At some point, looking within and uncovering the layers of approval, external acceptance, and the need for validation is the first step to living an authentic life. Maybe living in your truth, you feel unworthy or unlovable. You don’t discover the true you by adopting pieces of other people’s lives/reality and masking them as your own. Below are a few reasons why it’s important to live an authentic life.
You Pave Your Own Way
You ever hear someone describe their life, and it’s rooted in confusion and discomfort? They’re unsure of who they are, what they want out of life, and often many aspects of their lives are a carbon copy of others. When you’re not living an authentic life, the uncertainty of life creates a lack of clarity. The sight of seeing someone else live powerfully in their truth inspires you so much you feel that attempting to recreate what makes others happy will somehow fulfill you. When you live authentically, you pave your own way; you forge your path. You’re not compelled to adopt aspects of someone else’s life to feel more control of your own. You’re deeply rooted in who you are and what you love.
Your Personal Relationships Are Built Genuinely
When you live in your authentic nature daily, your ability to cultivate relationships from a place of truth becomes natural. When you’re unsure of who you are, you find yourself building connections based on lies and disingenuine behavior. Think about the times you established a connection(s), and a large part of that connection was rooted in lies. Or, can you recall a time you’ve witnessed someone build connections with others, but they weren’t 100% honest with the people who believed in and trusted them? All of us have had our fair share of relationships formed when we were in a space in life where we lacked clarity of who we truly are. When you live an authentic life, you cultivate relationships with positive intentions. An authentic connection is not transactional or solely based on what you receive. By building relationships and not being 100% transparent about who you are or by pretending to be the person you believe others will like and respect, you’re manipulating them into believing you’re someone you are not. When you cultivate authentic connections, you connect with people from a place of love which is the foundation for lasting relationships.
You Stop Giving Your Power Away
Sometimes you find yourself in a space when you lack confidence in who you are at your core so, you live your life constantly looking for acceptance from people outside of you. You give your power away by constantly needing others to validate who are and what you do. Living an authentic life means you have full control over who you are, what you do, and what you believe. You look to yourself when you lack clarity and understanding. You don’t need others to validate who you are because you’re so grounded in your truth that there is nothing that anyone can tell you about yourself. When you live an authentic life you stop giving your others the power to tell you who are.
Life is about choices. Choosing to live powerfully in who you are, changes your perspective completely. I encourage you all to seek authenticity daily.