After researching this topic, I found out the following:
- “I am afraid of being myself around family because of all the gossip in my family. I feel like I have to be perfect in order to negate the rumours. I wish I didn’t care what my family members thought but I do.”
- “I think it’s harder for me to be authentic with close family and friends than with quick interactions with a regular. It doesn’t make sense. It should be that I am more myself with the people that love me but more worried about being judged by those who love me because I have something to lose rather than something to say at work with a customer. “
- “I love painting! Sometimes I get so scared of making a mistake though that I stop myself from painting. I forget that sometimes painting is inherently a process of practising, making mistakes and fixing them!”
- “The hardest for me to be authentic is the career path I want to focus on in my own way. One reason is that I am a multi-passionate person, and I would like to combine creative activities with what I have studied. Meanwhile, I am also willing to take a totally different job in order to support myself, while I am building my career the way I want, but some close and caring persons are challenging me for it. In addition to dealing with all the challenges of unemployment, now I need to become stronger every day in my close relationships in order to respectfully put some boundaries so that I can focus on what I want.”
- “The hardest thing for me to show is showing that I don’t know what I’m doing in a certain situation in building my business. It’s like I want to make the all the right moves as much as possible. But…Its something I’m definitely working on!”
I just happened to bump into another video of Oprah’s when I found the title to the article I wanted to write about. I went to the answers to see what people were saying and put them down on this article. I took their answers down for you to know that you’re no different from everyone else, even me because I too have things that I am scared to be authentic about as I continue the process like the title of this video, “Success is a process.” I will drop the link for the video below so you can have a look at it at the end of the article.
When I look at all the points up there, I see a lot of fear, and it tells me that our fear comes from the things that happened and happens to us. I mean this topic about being authentic has only become so important over the last few years that even employers are loosening up a little. Generation Z has made this a lifestyle and if marketers are marketing to Generation Z they want authenticity, heck people, in general are tired of being spammed and want authenticity when they’re buying, they want transparency, they’re tired of the bs.
Where there’s more crime, violence, lack of morality and support people live in fear, and unfortunately, the news doesn’t help. Fear is the biggest dream killer there is out there, yet fear can also be good. It’s hard to get the balance.
I want to pose a question to those who are extremely afraid of living an authentic life. What is the difference between doing everything possible to live your true mission with safety measures and dying? Like, say something happened instantly without crime and violence being the cause?
“When you give up your ego, self-entitlement… money; all from your external world and internal world to pursue a mission. There will be times you feel like dying, but don’t you think it’s worth dying trying?”
T. Dench Patel, 19th May 2019, 10:14
Here is the link to the video I was talking about titled “Success is a process.”
Check out this article too
So, getting right back to the question on this article? What is the thing that you’re scared to be the most authentic about?
We’re so afraid of what we think people are thinking out there; about what we want to be authentic about and to us what might be a big of deal might not be that big of a deal to someone else. In fact, when I was faced with such situations, I found that there was someone who said, that’s no big deal you want to hear something bigger…? You’ll also be surprised about the incredible things you can learn from just coming out and saying it.
My experience is, the more I put myself out there, the less I care about the people who are not picking up my reason why. People’s lives are complexed, diverse, and we’re living more and more in times where we are shocked about a story, and then a new story comes along. This is opening up people’s minds and attitudes about the things that go on, hence why being authentic helps you to pass that and move forward.
I really like this quote by Brené Brown.
“To be authentic, we must cultivate the courage to be imperfect — and vulnerable. We have to believe that we are fundamentally worthy of love and acceptance, just as we are. I’ve learned that there is no better way to invite more grace, gratitude and joy into our lives than by mindfully practicing authenticity.”
Look, I hope this will help you move forward with what you’re scared to be authentic about. I will ask you this question. Isn’t it better to live a life where you are true to yourself? So many people lack confidence and courage to live with conviction.
When you know an authentic person, you will understand that their authenticity is a loyal piece of them through all adversities and seasons. – T. Dench Patel, 10 July 2019, 17:06
T. Dench Patel
Thank you for the comments and support. Thank you for offering to donate if there was a donate button on here. I prefer not to take donations. You can support by either purchasing one of my books (Paperback or Kindle), The South African: True Colours, The South African: Roamer or my children’s book Light. These books can be found on Amazon mainly and other sites in your country.
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Note: Do keep referring back to this site as much as possible, as I grow, a more profound perspective may form and so I will always come back to each of these articles to reevaluate them.
