This week the theme of my teachings has revolved around the notion of being “authentic” or being true to your values, your needs, your hopes – YOUR path.
E.E. Cummings wrote, “To be nobody – but-yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody but yourself – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight – and never stop fighting!”
Being true to yourself is an everyday struggle. From how our parents raised us, to societal pressures, cultural norms, what we watch on television and to what we see on social media, we are constantly shown what we should strive to be. We peer into other people’s lives to see what happiness “looks like”.
The prescription to be being happy is to be truly authentic and “staying real” to YOU.
It is so easy to say but to actually “do” requires a lot of will and commitment. We care about what people think of us and often when we do start to be authentic and do what we want, we look “self absorbed”, selfish or going through a “crisis”. You only have one life, so live it the way YOU want. It doesn’t mean you forget your responsibilities, it means you must become responsible to yourself. When you do, you might be met with some resistance but in the end, you will gain respect and admiration for being you.
I have had to dig deep into my life to follow my own path to who and what I want to be. From university, to the corporate world, to yoga training and to becoming a health coach: I’ve had to march to the beat of my drum, to the beat of my heart and its wants. This journey has no end and is constant. For me, I have set the bar high to also be an example to my little girls. I want to be the loudest voice in their heads to be brave and true to themselves. One of my hopes is to raise strong, kind, bright little girls who don’t grow up caring about what everybody thinks of them but of what they think of themselves.
I’m not naive in thinking this battle is easy but I’m ready for this fight, for me- for everyone. We all deserve to be happy.
Being authentic premises my health coaching practice, I will often ask my clients “what do you want?”. Being healthy and happy requires you to be true to yourself first, the rest will always follow.
Brene Brown in the “Gifts of Imperfection” provides a brilliant read, on living what she calls “Wholehearted Living”. The book is an easy to read and provides a powerful framework to help you “Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be and embrace who you are”.
Happy weekend!
Much Love, Charlene
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