Dropping Your Mask For Authenticity

November 28, 2022|Animal Lovers and Med Team, Authenticity & Self Expression, Personal Growth, Self Development, Self Help, Self Mastery

Dropping your mask

Embracing yourself and moving away from the expectations of society is not always easy. Too often we accidentally live in the shadow of people’s expectations. This can make it hard to recognize and embrace your individuality. Thankfully, embracing yourself doesn’t mean you have to learn to be a new person, you simply need to accept yourself for who you are. Are you ready for a change? If so, keep on reading for some tips for letting go of your mask.

Recognize Your Authenticity

Embracing the real you comes with a few prerequisites. First, you have to let go of your fears about society’s opinions. Secondly, you need to understand what authenticity is so that you can apply it toward reaching your self-awareness goals. Authenticity is already within you. All you need to do is look within yourself and let your natural thoughts and feelings shine through. You can’t chase a feeling or idea of being authentic, you can only BE authentic and true to who you are. Life is naturally a duality of good and bad, light and dark, yin and yang. Life is all about BALANCE. Keep in mind that begin authentic and real does NOT mean that you need to tell everyone everything. It is okay and acceptable to keep parts of yourself private while still embracing the real you, this is a helpful and healthy boundary to keep with the rest of the world. Relationships should be layered like onions, not everyone will be able to handle all of you too quickly so take your time and peel back the layers slowly.

Accept Your Emotions

Having a certain level of emotional control is important and necessary. Most people learn emotion and impulse control as children, but some do not and may have trauma or conditions that prevented them from learning so be patient with yourself AND others. Also, just because one can learn to control reactions to feelings doesn’t mean that the feelings are not there or that they go away. Lean into your vulnerabilities and allow them to become a part of you. Also, embrace your anger and sadness so they can help you grow as a person IF you allow yourself to explore the “why” behind them. The more you accept your emotions, the easier it will be to feel comfortable in who you are as a whole person, and this takes time so be patient with yourself.

You are NOT Your Parents

Everyone wants to make their parents proud, but trying to live your life in the way they want is not how thrive. It is important to create a strong sense of self while incorporating the lessons they have to offer as you grow. Being aware of where your personality starts and their indoctrination ends is a critical step in the self-awareness process. You are allowed to be an individual and own your own beliefs but remember that your parents were kids too and that no matter what mistakes they made they also had their own wounds and trauma growing up so be kind, love, and forgive.

Learn To Walk Away Sooner

Too often people mistake being authentic or “real” with being loud and standoffish. This is so far from the truth that it is laughable. There are many circumstances where showing all your personality is not productive or wise. You must consider your surroundings and audience. The goal is to learn when to be 100% you and when to walk away. This can be a hard lesson to learn, especially when you are naturally not a quitter and love to innately people please… a topic for another time perhaps. In closing, any situation in which you are forced or asked to be someone other than yourself is a situation you should walk away from. It is okay to move forward whenever you decide to.

Until next time, be well.

-The Indigo Phoenix