If you really look at your life, can you truly say you're being yourself?
"It makes you wonder, is self inflicted - multiple personality disorder normal for this day in age, and are we glancing over the fact that just trying to be liked is causing us to force mental illness on ourselves?"
Before leaving the house we tend to look in the mirror, when you check your reflection do you examine the hopeful eyes looking back, or prep the persona you’ve created for the outside world? And do you have just one or a few for different situations and individuals? We all create a personality that we think our friends and even our families want to be around, we plan to make people happy without exploring our own happiness. We define ourselves through how other people see us, but what’s so wrong with showing the world the real you?
I love my co-workers, but I find that when I talk to them I put on a façade that suits their personality instead of my own, I create interests that match theirs so we will have something to talk about and relate to. But I need to realise that this will happen naturally if I just be myself, it might not happen as quickly and there will be the occasional awkward conversation but putting myself into the mix makes the relationship real and sustainable. When we put on a façade for our friends and family we find reasons to back out of seeing them and spend less and less time with them, why? Because it’s so damn tiring! It makes you wonder, is self inflicted - multiple personality disorder normal for this day in age, and are we glancing over the fact that just trying to be liked is causing us to force mental illness on ourselves?
You like the real you, your partner likes the real you – they picked you. So, why do we hide… is it ingrained into us from a young age…’Can you act normal please?’… or is it the fear that some people won’t like us? Because we have got to get really honest with ourselves, there will always be people out there who just don’t like us! There’s no way to fix that and it’s not our problem, its theirs. Right now, you’re probably thinking, this is making some sense to me but how am I supposed to stop the cycle I’ve created? The answer is three easy steps that all lead to one outcome…learn to love yourself.
1. As those beautiful eyes stare back at you, instead of combing over every flaw and imperfection, name three things that you love about yourself…and don’t just do this today, do it every damn day. Is your hair a colour women and men would kill for and pay obscene amounts of money to obtain, do you like your imagination, how about the squats you’ve been doing to get that perfect peach bum? It doesn’t matter what three things you chose, but it does matter that you take the time to appreciate yourself.
2. Do something every day that is just for you – boil the kettle but only make yourself a drink, set your alarm to watch the sunset alone, unset your alarm to sleep in and wake up when your body is ready. It doesn’t matter how big or how small it is, but it does matter that you’re doing it for you and no one else, remind yourself that you are important- you matter!
3. Give yourself a damn break! No matter how perfect an Instagram account looks or how put together someone looks when they leave the house I can guarantee you, they are struggling as much as you. It won’t be the same issue and they are handling it in a different way but we all struggle…we are all human.
Now, go and be you, the real you xx