Authenticity is the Greatest Gift

Ever loved someone so much you’d do anything for them?

Even if it came at your own expense?

People-pleasing seems to be an act of love, but in reality it stems from fear.

Fear of confrontation, fear of hurting others, fear of not being liked.

Fear is the opposite of love, and while people-pleasing may seem well-intentioned, it’s inauthentic, dishonest, and dishonoring of both yourself and others.

Truth is the loving path, even if it hurts. Repressing truth only delays (and usually deepens) any pain it may inevitably cause.

Many people mask their true selves to partners, friends, co-workers and families, only to later find themselves living a lie, lost, resentful and disconnected from their authentic expression.

Or bend over backwards trying to meet everyone else’s needs at the expense of their own to the point of burnout.

Or stay in relationships with someone they don’t want to be with simply because they don’t want to hurt them.

But what’s more hurtful? A broken heart from a breakup or realizing you’ve wasted your time with someone who’s been lying to you both?

People-pleasing is a way of trying to control someone’s experience and coddle and protect them from pain because you’re assuming you know what’s best for them, rather than trusting them to navigate their own journey.

Sugar-coating and appeasing robs others of the ability to make their own decisions about the real you.

It fosters fake relationships; people who like you for someone you’re not. It assumes that those who love you won’t respect your boundaries and honesty, and distorts your ability to know who loves you for you.

It leads to resentment because you’ve compromised yourself. This resentment gets projected onto the other, but is rooted towards yourself because in prioritizing the comfort of others, you’ve abandoned yourself.

When you embrace the inevitable fact that not everyone will like you, you see that your authenticity is a filter that brings those who are in alignment with you closer.

Anyone who doesn’t respect your boundaries is not your people.

It’s been said the only thing you’ll lose by being real is something fake.

Keeping it real is the greatest gift you can give to yourself and others in a world where unmasked authenticity has become a rare gem in a world starved of genuine connection.