One of the most popular phrases of 2018 is “living my best life.” You may have seen this all over social media, but as many of us have come to learn, that life that many portray is not always their truth.
Let’s be honest, many of us seek and value validation from others. We want to be loved, accepted, and free to be ourselves, but many of us are not operating in our authentic selves. That’s perhaps at some point in our lives being our unique selves or expressing our uniqueness wasn’t received well or understood. That can cause us to limit ourselves personally, adapting to our environments instead of being bold in who we are unapologetically, and thus changing our world for the better.
In your single season and beyond, there are beautiful benefits to loving and living your authentic self, including but not limited to:
Being your authentic self gives people permission to do the same
When I listen to interviews I love to get insight on people’s personalities and how they embrace being in the public while being true to themselves. We all have certain “rules” that we have to abide by according to standards set by culture, time and place, etc. but I appreciate those who manage to be consistently themselves throughout their life, in public and in private.
Being authentically you in this way gives some sort of “permission” to others. A lot of us tend to dress, talk, act according to a code to please other’s ever changing standards of what is acceptable. But if you’re aware of who you are in Christ, your identity and personality are a reflection of the creativity of our Maker. Why hide or hinder that? There are times when we may have to be more cognizant of our surroundings, but ultimately who God calls us to be changes atmospheres, and not the other way around.
“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 MSG
It allows your relationships to thrive
Being authentic allows you to be honest and true to yourself in relationships with others. Just tolerating any behavior from those you love is not healthy in the long run. Sure, you may want to keep the peace for now, but you can grow to resent that person and take advantage of your relationship.
In order for it to thrive, especially in a romantic relationship, the couple is comprised of two individuals who are free to be themselves around each other and open to helping each other become better versions of themselves. Your quirks, your style, your story: can you accept and love that about yourself? Are you willing to open those parts of yourself to someone in a relationship?
“Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes that spoil and ruin the vineyards [of love], While our vineyards are in blossom.” Song of Solomon 2:15 AMP
You don’t have to carry the burden of being someone you’re not
The downside of lying (one of many) is that you have to keep up with the lie. You have to play a role or present something that is not who you are in order to feel accepted and all of that is stressful! Take the load off yourself by living as yourself, not who someone wants you to be. You won’t always be liked or accepted, but that was never a guarantee in life in the first place.
When you are authentic in your own voice, style, way of doing things, you can feel at ease. We are God’s workmanship, and He is molding us and making us into something beautiful. It’s a process, so lying to yourself and others by attempting to be someone you’re not hinders the process of growth. You owe it to yourself to become all that God has designed you to be. Not embracing who you are impedes that process. So take a load off and be you.
“Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.” 1 John 3:18-19 NLT
You can achieve more because you believe in yourself
Being yourself means that you believe in yourself therefore you’re not afraid to be who you are in front of anyone at any time. That is a beautiful thing because like the other benefits we mention prior it has a ripple effect on other people and it also gives glory to God. If we are not authentic in our role in our individuality, in our purpose or who we were created to be, then who knows what we could be stopping for manifesting in the Earth.
What you’re able to do is limitless because you’re actually walking out and believing in the scripture that says we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us (Phil. 4:13) so when you are authentic and embracing who you are you don’t let your quirks, flaws, past or what other people think about you determine how you operate in this world. If God is for you who can be against you? When we truly embrace that, we can fully walk in authority and walk those verses out in our lives every day.
I used to think being to bubbly to much for people but my spirit is to up lift with this walk with god I realize so far I have 3 motivation gift encouragement, helping and serving. So knowing that now my goal is to be my true self I was in a bad unhealthy marriage for years and recently Divorce a year ago so still learning but I’ve realized I changed myself to validate him. I remember my first dream god revealed about my marriage I am still truly thankful and still haven’t shared it with much people because I’m still learning but I thought I was going crazy. But thank you for you blog I just came across it googling hidden from god. God bless you.
Thank you so much Trina for sharing your story and your support for BLISS!