It is ultimately our decision who we're going to be and how we'll respond to life. As we live our lives we have a plethora of choices to make. Our attitude, conduct, values, principles and goals are just a few. For many of us this can be a daunting task, because we often fear what others will think of us.
This need to fit in, or to conform to publicly approved ideologies in order to achieve some goal believed most important, can cause us to exchange our innate truth for the cloak of hypocrisy - a pretense of having virtuous character, morals, beliefs, or principles that we don't actually possess. This is a slippery slope because we can't keep up this charade every second of our lives. The truth inevitably finds its way to the light.
There is however, a much simpler, though not necessarily easier, way of being and that is living authentically. Authenticity means being genuine, original, real and true.
The cool thing about being authentic is we never have to worry about trying to convince others of who we are. Most people have great bullshit radars; they instinctively sense when someone is being genuine or fake; they know when someone is pretending for the sake of their own gain; they can see someone's values or lack thereof, by the way they live their life.
If we really want to make an impact in the lives of others, and create success and fulfillment in our own, all we need to do is focus on being genuine in every moment. Embracing our authenticity and consciously choosing to be who we really are no matter what, is our greatest asset. Being vulnerable and messy and imperfect is what others relate to, are inspired by and ultimately trust.
Let's keep it real.