Finding Courage to Be Yourself

In a world constantly telling us to be someone other than ourselves, it can be challenging to find the courage just to be you. But being yourself is the most important thing you can do. It sounds cliche, but it’s true. 

When you’re yourself, you’re being your best self. And that’s what the world needs. But, unfortunately, getting to the real you can often seem much harder than it is because you have been programmed to be many things to so many other people.

You may be defined in roles such as mother, wife, daughter, partner, or combination. This requires you to perform any number of tasks and be completely emotionally and physically available for others to fulfill your role. This can sometimes distract from your core self, or it may very well add to it. 

The challenges begin when we only see ourselves in our roles instead of seeing our true selves in a role. We turn into someone we don’t get great joy out of being. The tasks at hand become our day-to-day functioning, which is not good for anyone.

So how do you find the courage to be yourself? Here are a few tips:

Be willing to take risks.

Sky diving and mountain climbing may be zooming through your thoughts, but that is not the type of risk I suggest. Not at first, at least. Taking risks may be as simple as introducing yourself to your new neighbor. 

Inviting friends over to dinner or even taking up a new hobby, something you have dreamt of doing but found reasons or excuses not to do them. So often, we don’t take risks out of fear of failure, think we should spend the resources of time, energy, and money on one of our other roles, or perhaps we have never been told to “Go For It!” Now is the time. Go!

Be willing to make mistakes.

Only the most outstanding achievers of our life are the ones who made multiple mistakes on the way to great success. You have to be willing. Getting past your fear of failure can be daunting. 

Some of us were raised being told mistakes were terrible, but the truth is that mistakes are part of the learning process. When faced with a mistake, how you handle it defines your core character. Take risks, and allow yourself to make mistakes.

Be willing to be vulnerable.

It all comes down to vulnerability. In roles, we often have a barrier set up of a preconceived idea of how we are supposed to act and what we are supposed to do. When we work outside the box and spend some time on ourselves, we realize it requires vulnerability. 

At first, being vulnerable can be very uncomfortable. You might want to run back to your roles to hide but instead lean into the discomfort. However, you will be pleasantly surprised that vulnerability soon becomes your superpower instead of something to fun from.

And, most importantly, just be yourself!

Journaling, counseling, prayer, meditation, and times of great self-reflection may help you see more fully how amazing you are! We are set on steadily giving away our time, energy, and power to everyone. The more you get to your authentic self, the more of all these things you will have because you will be functioning out of your true self.

Courage to be yourself is accomplished when you honestly lean into all of yourself.