Professional Student of Life
Adventures in personal growth
Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else. ~ Judy Garland In January, I often write a post about my goals and intentions for the coming year – I’m a long-time maker of resolutions and 5-year plans. This year I found myself balking, and it’s not because I don’t have plans and hopes. It’s because I’m over the idea that I need to make myself better or different in order to be okay. I’m done trying to make myself something that I’m not. This year my only intention is to be as radically authentic as possible. Not that that’s easy either! However great the relief that comes with not trying to change myself, being truly authentic is a muscle that takes time to develop. It’s easier with the traveling lifestyle I’m currently living: since no one knows me, no one has any investment in my showing up a certain way. But even given that, it’s surprisingly difficult to resist the temptation to “fit in.” For instance, my instincts lean far more to the reclusive than the social. That’s no problem when I’m staying someplace very independent, but when I recently stayed for a week in a BnB with hosts and other guests sharing the space, I had to resist the urge to invent things to do in order to look busier and hipper. They were perfect strangers – why did I care so much? In reality, I was projecting my own judgments onto them. It’s my own ego that accuses me of being boring and weird, and that’s where I need to spend my efforts this year, in calling out the subtle fears that tell me I’m somehow not okay being who I truly am. (Most likely those other people spared not one tiny thought about what I was doing in my room.) Even when the social pressure is more overt, it’s my own anxiety that makes me susceptible to it. I met a woman close to my age and spent a day talking about traveling alone as single, middle-aged women. It was wonderful, but it took me two days afterward to feel good again about my decision to let my natural gray hair show. For the other woman, looking “young” and finding a man was a major priority. My desire to be comfortable and confident in my own skin took a distinct hit, but it wasn’t because I particularly valued this woman’s opinion. It was because my ego took the opportunity to race down old rabbit holes of comparison and shame. Other people aren’t nearly as influential as our own deep-seated doubts that we are worthy. Being radically authentic requires constant awareness of the old programs the ego runs that tell us we aren’t good enough the way we are. If we can “out” them and view them clearly but compassionately when the urge to be less than authentic arises, we can make better decisions about what actually feels good and right for ourselves. And that is my main intention for this year!
9 Comments
Marc
1/25/2022 06:43:36 pm
You write quietly...and beautifully. Always look forward to your new posts.
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Stephany
1/26/2022 05:07:42 am
The stories we tell ourselves! When we look at them, they are almost never true and are based on our past, our upbringing, all the "shoulds" that we tell ourselves and the life we have led up until now. It's hard to challenge the ego enough to start living in the present and do things that we really want to, without any of those old biased, those old stories.
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Suzanne
1/26/2022 06:30:07 am
Your posts always give me something to think about. Thank you!
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Fiona
1/26/2022 09:55:16 am
You always give me something to think about. Love your writings. X
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Louise
1/26/2022 10:44:10 am
Amaya, I've always loved your wisdom, and I echo the responses of the other readers. (Stephany, yours was wonderful!)
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Kelly
1/29/2022 08:07:39 am
Awesome. Yet another uplifting message. I'm going to do that too. I definitely find myself wondering about what others think too often. And you're right. They probably aren't thinking about us anyway. I'm going to just be me too. Thank you so much for your honesty and insight. I'm always incredibly uplifted and inspired when I read your posts. Thank you Amaya!! :)
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Starr
3/1/2022 08:17:39 am
I am tired of "trying to be nice." It feels so off and fake. Radical authenticity is life saving, like a buoy. Some people resonate with me and some don't and I resonate with some energy and others I don't. That is the resonance dance. Energy, frequency, and vibration. We attract what we are---our energy.
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Marc
10/2/2022 10:51:34 am
.....you still around?
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kevin
11/2/2022 03:22:38 am
i miss you :(
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Contact: amaya.pryce@gmail.com |