"To thine own self be true." That line from Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, is thought-provoking. All too often, many people, both men and women, sadly live their entire lives without ever really knowing or fully understanding who they truly are or never knowing themselves entirely. That is a sad and tragic thought to think about … because the reality is that knowing one’s true self is key to us as humans finding inner peace and serenity.
Author Shannon Alder has said, “One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.” All too often many of us do unknowingly and regrettably end up falling into the routine of living and behaving in a way to please other people, and not necessarily ourselves.
This is an unfortunate reality for millions of women. We are expected to play multiple roles as wives, mothers, sisters, bosses, employees, and everything in between. We wear a lot of hats. The end result of donning these multiple “hats”… is that the true self, the person that you need and want yourself to be, becomes lost in the maze of duty and responsibility that we feel we owe to other people.
The fact is, that even though you may go through your entire life thinking without ever even questioning that you are in touch with your true self when the reality is that you have merely and simply just become extremely good at being the multiple personas that the rest of the people in your life have required you to be. To thine own self be true.
Basically, you may not be being true to yourself for the longest time without ever even knowing it.
Living your life as the person that you want other people to perceive you as -- instead of embracing and accepting the person that you truly are is perilous to your ultimate happiness. If you are constantly and consistently trying to impress others at the risk of endangering your own inner bliss, It is bound to be exhausting and will cause irreparable damage to your mental and emotional health.
Every person, especially women, should regularly and routinely make it a point for "self-care." Take the time to thoroughly reflect upon your inner self and determine whether or not you are being genuine to yourself, or if you are merely honoring what you think other people need and want you to be.
Now, this is not an easy undertaking, and getting to know your true self can sometimes be unpleasant or painful. You have to know yourself to grow yourself. No matter how uncomfortable the process of exploring and discovering your true inner identity might be, it will always be worth it in the end, and the reward of really being comfortable in your own skin will be that you will feel safer and more peaceful because you will have gotten rid of the false identity’s that had been residing within your mind and soul.
Ridding yourself of the false personalities that have managed to invade your inner self will bring peace and happiness to the one identity that is yours and that is the only one to which you need to nurture and pay attention to cultivating.
Is it easy? No. It certainly does take a fair amount of bravery and courage to take the plunge --- there’s a fear factor… but when it comes to being the best version of myself… I’ve learned to jump and grow my wings on the way down. And you can too. As you reveal your true inner self to both yourself and those around you in your life, you may feel that you lack that strength. However all people are ultimately capable of accomplishing this feat, and in doing so find that they are surprised by and proud of the valor that they probably never even knew existed within them.
Basically, take the time to get to know yourself; you may be pleasantly surprised at how much you really like the real you. And your future self will thank you.
Keep shining,
Dr. Sunny