YOU

We deny, minimize, and hide our full, whole selves for a reason — for the promise of safety; the comfort of not standing out; the illusion of fitting in; the easing of fear; the half-baked version of belonging; the contentedness of being liked; the knowing of what’s long been comfortable.

The thing we often forget is that denying, minimizing, and hiding our full selves will never get us what we’re looking for by doing so.
We won’t feel safe in a false version of ourselves.
We won’t feel comfort in a small version of ourselves.
We won’t feel connected in a masked version of ourselves.
We won’t feel belonging in a morphed version of ourselves.
We won’t feel liked in a diluted or edited version of ourselves.
We won’t enjoy what’s long been comfortable while trying to do so at the same time as suppressing the fullness of who we truly are.

There is no 1-2-3 path towards showing up as our full, whole selves. There is no linear process or guide. There is no blueprint for how to do it that is certain to fit every human’s unique circumstances and lives.

And… the work of digging into who we *actually* are (underneath who we’ve been told to be, who we’ve learned to be, who we’ve been programmed to be, who we’ve thought we had to be, who we’ve always been but don’t actually align with…) is worth more than the challenge of the what it takes to get there.
The work of healing from the weight we’re carrying is worth the freedom of taking it off.
The work of navigating all we’ve learned that no longer serves us is worth the spaciousness of living into what is actually aligned.
And the risk of disconnection, judgment, and criticism that inevitably comes when we show up as our full, whole selves is worth more than the loneliness of never even being truly seen.

Cheers to peeling through the layers between who you’ve created and who you actually are. TO LETTING PARTS OF YOURSELF SLOWLY COME TO THE SURFACE. To finding joy in your fluidity. To finding peace in how others perceive you. And to finding compassion for your process of returning to yourself all along the way.