You Will Never Be Authentic, Stop Trying

You will never be authentic. Because ‘authentic’ isn’t something a person can be. Not meaningfully, at least.

Why so? Because authenticity doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

“He’s so authentic.” But authentically what?

You can be authentically playful. Or authentically sad.

You can be an authentic asshole. Or an authentically inquisitive person.

To really be authentic, you have to be authentically something.

That’s why the people who try to be authentic never succeed. Even before people started overusing the word, to call something or someone authentic, just authentic, is incredibly empty.

So stop paying attention to ‘being authentic’.

And start paying attention to the things you can authentically be.