Unapologetically Me
So let's be real, have you ever looked back and really reflected on your personal growth? I recently sat down one morning while getting ready and really went through the past few years and let me tell you, I was so inspired by the person I have grown to become!
As a child we are not only care free, but we really are a clean slate. If you think about it, we learn fear, stress, self doubt, and are even conditioned to act a certain way. I'm not sure where between childhood and adulthood I started living a life that people expected of me, but it was at that point I was no longer living a life that was truly making me happy. I had been so concerned with what people thought about me and became very insecure in the person I truly was. I feared people abandoning me, dressing the way I wanted in fear of judgement, and even changed the way I thought or acted to fit in or keep a guy interested. I was always stressed and exhausted and while it is so disheartening to acknowledge the person I was, I am beyond grateful to have recognized the issue and take steps to be honest to the person that I want to be.
Now as I mentioned in my previous post, I'm a very private person and my family can attest to this, so some of you may be asking yourself why? Why am I deciding to share something so personal, and my answer to that is, there are a couple of reasons, one of them being my way of holding myself accountable. It is incredibly easy to fall back into old habits, which I feel most people understand. Being so open with something I have struggled with for so long, I feel like I owe it to myself and to the people I interact with to be my most authentic self. Change doesn't happen overnight, but let me tell you, the past few years have been a breathe of fresh air! Another reason being because I can't be the only one out there who had dealt with something like this, and if I can make at least one other person feel like they are not alone and it is possible to turn things around then that would be amazing.
It is no longer a concern of mine what people think of me or whether they approve or disapprove. Quite frankly it never should have been in the first place. So here's to dealing with stress in a healthy way, discovering my voice and coming out of my shell. Here's to being honest to myself and the person that I want to be.
What personal changes have you gone through that have led to a positive outcome, big or small?