The Reason Why Having Courage to Be Yourself is Revolutionary
“I am not who you think I am; I am not who I think I am; I am who I think you think I am.” — Thomas Cooley
It sounds ridiculous, but I was once convinced the woes, worries, and wins I felt were uniquely mine; that no other soul, however freed from ignorance or misinformation, knew like I knew, what it was like to wade the waters of uncertainty and fear.
How absurd.
Thankfully, what I have discovered is it takes courage to be vulnerable. Sharing our unedited selves puts us in the crosshairs of ridicule and judgement.
Today, we are besieged with images and ads of what bag to tote, place to be seen, and what 3 numbers should be unveiled when we step on a scale.
Trying to sidestep this barrage can feel like teetering in a dinghy in the path of a battleship.
Daunting.
But it’s also why being yourself today is not so much courageous as it is revolutionary; a glorious act of defiance.
Doubling down on our weirdness, our singularity, can actually liberate us from the isolation we later discover is self-imposed.
It helps especially when we surround ourselves with friends, who love us not despite our idiosyncrasies but because of them.
When we find our tribe we can talk openly about our restlessness, doubts, and misgivings about the world and our relationship to it.
If you’ve stumbled upon such a person you’ve found more than a confidant but a holy grail.
Everyone needs a little encouragement now and then to share what Montaigne called our “true portraits.”
Because listening without ridicule is just another way of showing reverence for another’s soul, no matter how eccentric it may be.
If on the other side of fear is freedom then the path to unrestraint is not denouncing what scares us, but learning to co-exist with it.
Taking ownership of ALL of you is the only way to lean into your full self. Being yourself then becomes something you unveil not attain.
Conversely, conforming out of fear collapses our singular spirit; being ourselves illuminates it.
When you take noisy joy in your perfect strangeness you embolden others to do the same; to embrace the countless permutations of what makes a person uniquely themselves.
Ultimately, there’s nothing more courageous or interesting than being you.
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