Authenticity

I’m learning what it means to be authentic.

Authentic. I used to ignore this word, and take it for granted as if it had little to no importance in my life.

But now this word has so much weight. I like the way it sounds, I appreciate what it means, I rejoice in what I’m learning about.

So, I’m learning what it means to be authentic…in other words. I’m learning what it means to be REAL with people. This comes in a variety of forms…not lying, not being fake, not putting on a mask, not faking your words or emotions to woo others, not trying to fill awkward silences with small talk. But for me, this has mostly come in the form of choosing to not stay silent. I’m understanding the importance of speaking up instead of shutting up, of confronting someone instead of being afraid of looking like the bad guy, of being honest with my feelings instead of ashamed of them, of telling others how I feel about them instead of avoiding vulnerability, of asking questions instead of fearing rejection, of being honest with what’s going on in my life instead of assuming no one wants to know, of stepping up instead of avoiding awkwardness or failure, of apologizing instead of thinking it’s unnecessary, of saying no instead of not wanting to hurt their feelings, of telling someone they have hurt you instead of brushing it off and keeping a fake smile on.

Of simply being raw and honest and vulnerable with others.

Maybe to an 8 year old not being Real means lying to others, but at this point in life, it no longer means hiding honesty with lies…it means hiding honesty with silence and fear.

Maybe it’s just the simple fact that life is richer when we share it with others…including sharing our hearts, our thoughts, our fears, our beliefs..things we normally try to tone down.

Stop the constant small talk. Be real with people.

So yeah, I’m on a journey to be more authentic. I feel like I’ve got the concept down, but putting it into action is about 5 bajillion times harder than it seems. There’s a lot of fear going into it. Like I said..vulnerability, looking like the bad guy, awkwardness, being too heavy, scaring people away, rejection, failure, not knowing what to say next, etc…no one enjoys that. And most of us spend our lives trying our best to avoid those areas. But it’s not worth it anymore. The avoidance of these obstacles isn’t worth forgoing the richness of being authentic with others.

What do you think? What do you think it means to be real with people? this isn’t rhetorical by the way, I’m actually really curious :)