You’re in the movie, but the movie isn’t playing anywhere?
Ahhh the games of the universe—sometimes it seems like there are limitless ways to humble even the brightest of stars.
But I wanna talk about the struggle behind being authentic, and what’s awaiting you on your journey.
Authenticity is great– and even as important as it is, it’s still underrated. When you know yourself and do right by yourself, making life decisions that honor your values becomes easy.
Being authentic will make you feel good inside, the kinda good that combats low self-esteem, depression, and keeps you away from self-destructive hobbies.
No one is questioning the need for authenticity…… the question I’m bringing up is:
Can you be TOO authentic TOO soon?
I want to be clear with saying this– you should always be you, on the inside.
That’s the real opportunity of life, you have a chance to project yourself materially, and make something that comes from your own uniqueness.
Stop and think about how crazy that is–we actually have that ability AND most will never use it.
Back to authenticity, there is a danger to taking it too far.
The way life is setup, we’re rewarded for engagement and participation. We’re awarded for playing games.
You can’t decide not to play anymore, not while still depending on the game (working a full-time job, having a family, living in suburbia).
Here’s the truth of it— here’s the truth of it all.
KEEP your colorful self for your best of friends, but for the game, only show shades of it.
To have a fulfilling life, theres a level of alchemy you have to perform on yourself. BEYOND just being who you are– you have to be the best of it.
How do you do that?
At first, you pretend.
You invent a version of yourself who wins where you want to win, but can’t.
We imagine people will naturally respect realness, but where do you think the term “martyr” came from? No one actually wants to be Jesus, they just found themselves on a cross (road) when they kept being honest.
People like fantasy.
If you remove that with everyone you interact with, they end up disliking you. Even worse, they’ll just find you repulsive, annoying, and rigid and you won’t get anywhere….. or anything.
You need to be authentic with yourself, but stop showing everyone everything. I like learning about dinosaurs in movies, but from a museum— you find out that thing died because its arms killed it long before the meteors.
–FOOL