Embracing Your Authentic Self
I went to visit a friend of mine in his office over the course of the week and also to perform some transactions, but one thing caught my attention. In his office, there was a quote he framed and put on the wall, it read "you are enough." These words opened up my mentality to the power of self-acceptance. That is, you have to embrace your authentic self the way you are. One of the things I have understood in life is that before the world will be able to see you, you have to see yourself first. The world is not supposed to shape you to be conformed to it, rather you should shape your own world. But this starts by accepting yourself first.
A lot of people spend their entire life trying to fit themselves into the standards set by the society, or by their families, or by even their own weird and unrealistic expectations. But that is not where it ends, they also compare themselves with others, make others their "yardstick," trying to chase perfection, and by that, they silent their true self. What they forget is that they are actually enough. A fish does not have to compare itself with a bird for it to know that it is doing great. Of course they are built differently and each of them has its own strengths. Similarly, when you stop comparing yourself with others and begin to look within yourself, you will find true fulfilment.
It is worthy to note that in order to embrace your authentic self, you need to understand that your entire worth is not a function of your achievement, your popularity, validation from people, or your appearance. Your value is not a fundamental function of how much you have in your account, neither does it reduce if you did not succeed at something. You have to know that you were born with worth and with value, and nothing should take that away from you. By accepting yourself, you come to realise that your uniqueness is actually your strength and not a weakness. There is no one that is exactly you, nor does anyone think, act, behave, and dream exactly the way you do.
One of the major undoings of a lot of people, particularly in this era of easy access to social media, is that they want to be who they see on the screen - their favourite celebrity. This has caused undue pressure for them and made them to submerge their authentic self in the attempt to find others. You do not know what it took them to get to where they are, moreover everyone is built in different ways. More so, some of these people you see with certain lifestyles on the media are not real, some are just faking it. Trying to copy them and conform yourself to live by their standards will become counterproductive.
The real power lies in accepting yourself. That is, you will live your life, not to please someone else, but in accordance to your own truth. This does not mean that you are not striving to grow, rather it means that you are trying to become a better version of yourself. Of course, personal growth can be triggered by accepting yourself and working towards getting better. You may not be able to work to improve on your weaknesses and consolidate on your strengths if you are not aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Just to let you know; by improving on your weakness and solidifying your strengths does not mean that you are fixing yourself - you are not broken. It means that you are evolving because you are actually worthy.
The journey to embracing your authentic self is not easy and rosy. It requires some works to be done, sacrifices to be made, honesty, compassion, and patience. You may even part ways with some people who always make you to look less of yourself, and form new relationships and friendship with people who will encourage you. Also know that you do not need validation from people for you to know that you are doing good. Finally, learn to update on your knowledge-base and your skills. The more you know about yourself and about what concerns you, the better you will become. Learn and know more, so that you will be known more.
Thanks for reading
