You Can Be Yourself

by Robin Wheeler

The human world opposes, yet craves, authenticity. Think about it.

From birth, your family and community teach you to fit in. They have good intentions, but instead of valuing your innocence and uniqueness, gifts they long to rediscover in themselves, they instruct and coach you into being like them.

Then school insists you obey trivial rules geared to making everyone the same, which goes against human spirit. It fills you with largely useless information, punishes you for not caring for it, and teaches that the truth lies outside you. It does not support you being yourself, and responds coercively if you try.

To top that comes employment, maybe the most individuality-thwarting experience of all. Based on fear and control, it values compliance in exchange for illusions of belonging and security. It wants productivity, not people. Then there are the government and religion, but let’s not go there!

Society generally discourages distinctiveness. But life-long denial of who you are is not living. So we all face going against the odds to be true to ourselves. Considering that, think about this:

You can be yourself. 
You will need to find and listen devotedly to your inner truth and stand for it in a world of opinions. And venture courageously, constantly, and alone into the unknown, in spite of your fear. But real living will be there when you do. 

You can be yourself in relationships.
You can decide to be free, drop your forged identity, proceed from sincerity, become increasingly conscious and, of course, stop pulling on people to be like you. 

You can be yourself for a living. 
Being real and doing what you love contain everything you need. They are a rich and growing experience that cannot be wrong. And they are what the world needs. 

Authenticity takes trust and courage. It brings freedom, fulfilment and real connection. But don’t listen to me, look inwards and see.