Be Yourself, What Have you got to Lose?

Every time I read a story, blog, or article that is written with wild abandonment and truth I envy the author. I often wonder how they get to this point where they can say what ever it is that comes to their minds without any reservations. We know that people definitely want to hear the truth and they are naturally drawn to read the work of those that speak it. Yet even in knowing this we writers still find ourselves holding back, being careful and yes, afraid. I often times wonder what would people think if I let out the fullness of who I am, without holding back, without fear. I bet they would be entertained, I bet they would laugh, and I bet that the people who thought they knew me the best would find out they never knew me at all. It is these people that we seem to keep ourselves hidden from and are afraid of. Maybe it is our fear of revealing that we have never truly been ourselves and that now the people in our lives will be confused. We have pretended for so very long that we feel a responsibility to keep everyone comfortable and just leave things as they are. The big problem with this is that we become increasingly more uncomfortable living this way. One of the biggest lessons that we all seem to need to learn in life is to be in our truth. There are those lucky few who are just naturally born that way, but they are few and far between. I have son who was born that way and he is like a breath of fresh air. Some of us will be lucky enough to begin this process earlier in life, but many of us won’t approach it until much later. Developing this ability to be free is like building muscle, it is going to take some effort, and at times it will be a struggle. You see, when you stop saying what you think people want to hear and start saying what you feel, everyone isn’t always going to agree with you. You will need to develop a thicker skin and not be hurt by others opinions of you. In fact, they may even get mad at you or say hurtful things to you. It’s important to remember at times like these to keep asking yourself, how you feel, and to remind yourself who you are, in spite of what others may think or say. In the end you will be revered because everyone knows what a challenge it is to unleash yourself and be free. We do it with our spouses, we do it with our children, where on earth did we get the idea that we shouldn’t do it with the rest of the world?