Many individuals struggle with anxiety including myself, when I feel that life is too overwhelming and hard, I start thinking, what I am trying to chase, what sort of life I want to live and whom I am trying to please, and the most important one is that am I being true to myself ?
To be true to yourself means to act in accordance with who you are and what you believe.
Just as you cannot love anyone else until you love yourself, you cannot be true to anyone else until you are true to yourself.
it’s related to integrity, beliefs, personal values, honesty, sincerity, unwavering principles, being complete, authentic, living by what is and what is not acceptable to you, morals, ethics, right and wrong, honor, not being false, and truth.
and then I start to think about how to “be true to yourself”
here are some points I have learnt and as my own self reminder :
Being true to yourself starts with knowing who you are and accepting yourself; knowing your strengths, passions, limitations and purpose in life and then living that way all the time. You come to know yourself only by living life. Finding what works for you. What defines you and makes you as the whole.
Being true to yourself means you don’t worry about pleasing other people, living by someone else’s standards or rules. You don’t care what people think of you. You live as your natural self. Without compromise. No one can tell you how to be true to yourself except you.
When you do things that are not genuine or a reflection of the real you, you will not be happy with yourself and will end up confused. You’ll be confused because you won’t know whom to please, or how.
Being true to yourself is a personal choice for truth, making choices about how you want to live. You have the total power to live your life any way you want and to be faithful and factual to the truth about you.
in life there are no mistakes. Everything is a learning experience which helps you know how you can be true to yourself.
Sometimes you’ll slip, falter, fall down and completely fail but that is OK because it’s these life lessons that make you the person you are, they build and hone the essence of you and help you choose the real you.
When you respect yourself, others will respect you. They will sense that you are strong and capable of standing up for yourself and your beliefs.
When you are true to yourself, you allow your individuality and uniqueness to shine through. You respect the opinions of others but do not conform to stereotypes or their expectations of you.
To be true to yourself takes a courage. It requires you to be introspective, sincere, open minded and fair. It does not mean that you are inconsiderate or disrespectful of others. It means that you will not let others define you or make decisions for you that you should make for yourself.
Be true to the very best that is in you and live your life consistent with your highest values and aspirations. Those who are most successful in life have dared to creatively express themselves and in turn, broaden the experiences and perspectives of everyone else.