Freedom (to be ourselves) is a messy thing.

By freedom I mean the freedom to be ourselves in every way possible.

(Here I’m not talking about having our freedom taken away because we are being opressed by others, society, culture, religion or unethical rules or laws — that’s not something I can speak to given I grew up in what I’d consider a privileged place).

It’s the freedom we opt out of because we have chosen to walk a different path. Whether it be to please other people, for money, because you believed that path would lead you to where you wanted to be or just because it was the easier thing to do.

You’d think being you in the truest sense would be easy, au natural and straightforward.

Really it’s probably one of the messiest things we can experience. We have to shed, unlearn, tune out and probably say NO more than we say yes. Chances are it will involve some (or ALOT) of mistakes or maybe instead of mistakes they are learnings. Either way it’s a complicated process that will likely stall a few times, while you question what the hell you are doing and wonder who you really are.

Through school, our parents and jobs we’ve likely always had someone there, to give us feedback, set out rules, guidelines, goals and objectives and policies to follow. We’ve had textbooks, the internet and endless resources to give us answers.

The process of or practice of being ourselves throws all of those out the window. It’s not linear, it’s not a one way path, no one can give us the answer and there is no finish line.

Whether you believe in the cliché sounding quotes or not, I hope you do believe that being yourself is worth it all.