Brand: You

How to authentically represent in today's confusing world

For many, being who you are has always been a bit of a struggle. In your formative years you look to family and then to friends and then to co-workers and the larger society for validation that you are (fill in the blank here: acceptable/accepted, doing the right thing, living the right way, charting the right career path, being the right kind of parent). The list goes on and on. And feels overwhelming, to be honest. That’s a lot of expectations to meet.

Now add in social media and its curated algorithms. There’s essentially a commentary on everything from where and how you live, where and how you socialize, how you work, how you parent, how you dress, how you engage spiritually, how you can improve your friendships, partnerships, marriage, what’s wrong or right with your politics. Again, over. whelm.ing. Imagine a leaky boat- all of these expectations are the metaphorical areas where water seeps in. All you are doing is running around trying to stop the damage. You are exhausted immediately.

I think it is apparent when you are living inauthentically. You come across as defensive, as a know-it-all, as brittle, as tighly-wound, as uncomfortable. There’s an excuse for everyhing. And deep inside, you know that you are living inauthentically. You won’t acknowledge it easily because it takes work and struggle to unwind all the packaging you have built to appear in a certain way. There’s fear that “coming clean” will cause a whole house of cards to come down. This is a scary place to be, particularly since you don’t know what comes next.

I say it is time for us to say enough. Enough with representing yourself the way you think the world expects you to show up. Allow yourself to acknowlege the exhaustion and utter discomfort that is wearing a personality or a career or a relationship that isn’t really what you want. Give a gift to yourself - be courageous. Try stepping out and figuring out the YOU. Who are you? What do you want? What feels effortless and like you could do it forever? What feels like absolute drudgery and torture and you wish to never, ever experience it again?

There’s a social media/AI undercurrent driving us to liken ourselves to others or find online communities that reflect back our perceived values as opposed to pushing us out of our comfort zones and asking us to reflect, redesign, realign. Be true to you. I encourage you to set the phone down, go for a walk, think deeply and introspectively, and ask yourself the hard questions.

I’m doing this work. I welcome you to join me. Let’s come out of our shell or turn towards the light together.