Authenticity

Being authentic requires that you accept that some people will not like you. Some people will actually dislike you, despise you, go out of their way to express that they do not like your ideas, how you think, how you see the world.

This is what it means to be authentic.

There was once a point in my life when I was left standing on a sidewalk in Los Angeles with all of my earthly belongings around me. I was supposed to move apartments that day and I had a “friend” who agreed to come and pick me up in their car in order to help me move. It turned out that friend had actually made other plans and informed me with an “LOL” that they would be unable to help.

I was standing on the sidewalk sweating and confused as to why what I thought was a close friendship had fallen through in the moment when I needed it.

A friend helped me realize that I was beginning these relationships inauthentically. I was the type of person who would change who I was into whoever I thought would please the person in front of me in order to be liked by everyone.

Never again do I want to form a relationship the way I used to with inauthenticity as the mask that seduces other people into thinking that you are exactly the person that they want you to be.

Authenticity is who you are and who you are is a wonderful thing.