If you asked me in my twenties if I considered myself \"real\", I would have confidently answered: \"YES, what you see is what you get\".<\/p>\n
And I used to say that phrase a LOT, especially when I met new people. Except it wasn't true.<\/p>\n
For as long as I can remember, I struggled with \"fitting in\". The fact that I was always the tallest, and eventually the heaviest in my class didn't help.<\/p>\n
Add to that being the only one whose parents were divorced (multiple times) and at the receiving end of abundant small-town gossip, and you have someone who felt like an outsider.<\/p>\n
My way of coping was to\u00a0develop a carapace between me and others.<\/p>\n
I had this capacity to \"adapt\" my personality or even the way I spoke at the snap of a finger.<\/p>\n
I used to think of it as a strength, a superpower.<\/p>\n
But I was lying to myself...and everyone else around me by pretending to be someone I was not.<\/p>\n
On the outside, I looked friendly, confident and driven. On the inside, I felt alone and\u00a0unloveable.<\/p>\n
Being adaptable and flexible are valuable qualities to cultivate, but we shouldn't have to lose touch with who we are along the way. RIGHT?<\/p>\n
It took a lot of intentional efforts as well as therapeutic and coaching support to get to a place where I felt comfortable showing up as my authentic self. As challenging as it was, it was worth it ????<\/p>\n
If this is something you've struggled with as I have, I get it, I know it's tough.<\/p>\n
And I want to share something I learned from the work Dr Bren\u00e9 Brown. It's a reminder that does wonders when self-doubt is getting louder:<\/p>\n
The heart of authenticity is about letting go of who we think we are supposed to be, and being who we are (The Gift of Imperfections<\/em><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I hope you find these articles useful, and if there is anything YOU would like me to cover in future blogs or training, send me a message here<\/a><\/p>\n
\nIf you would like support on journey, I offer 1-2-1 coaching<\/a> as well as an online group experience, The Confidence Bootcamp<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you asked me in my twenties if I considered myself \"real\", I would have confidently answered: \"YES, what you see is what you get\". And I used to say that phrase a LOT, especially when I met new people. Except it wasn't true. For as long as I can remember, I struggled with \"fitting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,38,19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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