Growing as a kid, I would do anything to be in a particular association, to hang out with some really cool kids then. I wanted to look fabulous to get attention and accepted.
Looking back at all those childhood fantasies, I can't imagine being anyone other than myself! The world we live in changes everyday. When you meet a stranger for the first time you pretend to be someone else and act differently, with the intention of making a good impression. But as time goes on that changes as you get to know yourselves better, one cannot pretend for long. At this point they get to know the real you and you start wondering how you guys become best friends.
It's okay to put up some attitude around certain people, but sometimes it's not okay. I've heard statements like "I've met so many fake people and some genuinely good people", then I ask myself, what if it is the other way around? The people that seem fake are not and just happen to behave like that. Most times we make mistakes while judging some people. Due to certain incidents in people's life, people tend to change way they are, but at some point your real self because you can't change who you are.
Sometimes you will hear some individuals telling you that being yourself is a "SIN". Their logic? It's not wrong to be yourself.
“Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be.” ~Alan Watts
The cliche “just be yourself” is a controversial one. It's an amazing thing to do, and I have wished to just do that many times but...
What if someone is a jerk to other people? Is it okay for them to just "be themselves" and go on irritating everyone? How about people who are scared of hanging around others and are living like a hermit , avoiding people?
In my quest for answers, I've recovered that it's very much possible to be yourself. So the irritating person who is a jerk to others and the individual who is scared of social situations are in reality, not being themselves. Their real self is just being overshadowed with conditioned, fear-based thinking.
I think our true selves is who we are when we let go of all of the judgements, stories and labels that we have layed upon ourselves. It is who we naturally are without pretentiousness.
It is who we really are when we let go of other people’s stuff that we have taken on that make us ask like jerk towards others.
