Authenticity: everyone talks about it, few actually do it.
We spend our lives curating Instagram feeds, crafting perfect LinkedIn profiles, and meticulously editing our personalities to fit whatever room we’re in.
It’s exhausting, it’s a fantasy, it’s bullshit.
Being unapologetically yourself isn’t about posting #authentic selfies or writing lengthy social media manifestos about your “journey.”
It’s about the courage to be disliked. Yes that takes courage.
To be wrong.
To be weird.
To fail spectacularly and get back up with grass stains on your knees and mud on your face – kind of like the whole man in the arena speech whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood…
you get the idea.
Think about the last time you censored yourself in a meeting. Or wore that outfit you hated because it was “professional.” Or laughed at a joke you didn’t find funny because everyone else did.
Each of these moments was a tiny betrayal of self, a small withdrawal from your authenticity bank account. (Yeah that’s a thing)
But the thing is: the more you embrace your genuine self, the more others will too. Not everyone, mind you – and that’s the point. When you stop being everyone’s cup of tea, you become someone’s shot of whiskey.
and IMO – 80% of the time, whiskey is better then tea
- Being yourself costs zero energy
- Pretending to be someone else costs infinite energy
Which would you choose?
Your quirks, your controversial opinions, your strange habits – these aren’t bugs in your programming. They’re features.
They’re the jagged edges that make you fit perfectly into the right spaces, with the right people, doing the right work.
Want to start a business breeding artisanal snails? Do it.
Have a burning desire to discuss philosophical zombies at dinner parties? Go for it.
Think NFTs are still the future? Well, you might be wrong, but own it.
It’s okay to be wrong because that’s where growth happens.
The person who knows it all? who can’t take criticism? Who is overly sensitive?
They’re going to be stuck for a long time.
The world doesn’t need another polished, filtered, focus-grouped version of what someone else thinks you should be.
It needs the raw, uncut, directors-edition version of you.
Starting now, make a pact with yourself: No more dimming your light to make others comfortable. No more apologizing for taking up space. No more “sorry, but…” prefacing your opinions.
Because here’s the secret they don’t tell you: The moment you stop giving a damn about fitting in is the moment you start standing out. And in a world of copies, the original is invaluable.
Fuck what people say, think, and do.
But there’s a line, this isn’t permission to be an asshole – authenticity without empathy is just narcissism. But it is permission to stop apologizing for who you are.
So, what’s it going to be?
The choice, as always, is yours.
Joe DiAndrea 