No Matter How Far You Run, Your True Self Will Always Catch Up

We go through life trying to fit in. And when it finally happens in some place or group of people, life presents us with another challenge that we have to overcome.

It’s important to know that fear of the unknown and the need to question everything are totally normal in times of change. They’re signs that indicate that something interesting is happening in your life.

During big changes, or even during the most common and irrelevant ups and downs of life, our identity can feel threatened, and that’s how we perceive it.

Imagine the simple act of riding an elevator with your neighbor: becoming anxious over not knowing what to say can make us feel uncomfortable, and we immediately ask ourselves questions like Why am I reacting this way?, or we might reproach ourselves: I thought I was mature, but look what’s happening.

All of these questions indicate that our existence is important to us, and even more important is that our existence reveals who we really are.

If we have self-love, we want to convey the most truthful image of ourselves.

Our “true selves” and our self-esteem

Knowing ourselves means being prepared to be loved.

If we have a low self-esteem, we’re going to want to hide the self that we devalue so much, and we’ll enter into a labyrinth of brief stares, awkward posture, superficial treatment, and fleeting and temporary relationships.

This lack of clarity about who we are and what we want is reflected in the complicated relationship between our minds and our environment. It leads us to continuously question the decisions that we make.

But you should understand one thing: except for external circumstances that put you in a situation you didn’t want to be in, everything you have decided in this life, you have decided yourself. However small or sad the options seemed to you, you chose one or the other.

Stop running and give in to your “real” self

There will come a moment in which you should stop questioning and punishing yourself. Always reaffirm what you want, but only if you’re free of questioning yourself about your existence.

These are two very different ways of growing, but with one you’ll know how to avoid useless suffering. You’ll be able to live according to your values.

Being yourself does not mean shaping the world as you please. Being yourself means going with the flow, contributing your essence, and letting the journey reward you for your struggle…and at the same time, you should pay life back by being unmistakably you.

It takes bravery to be who you really are, with everything that it implies. Without talentlessly copying and plagiarizing from other people.

When I am true to myself

I am not what happens to me. I am the truth that houses everything that happens to me. Like a glass jar that may contain water, dirt, or seeds – it always remains the same jar.

The people who pass through my life teach me lessons: they reflect what my interior projects. They make me feel uncomfortable, they are indifferent to me, they leave a mark on me. They are all a part of me that I sometimes cannot see myself.

Through the effort that I put in, my essence is found in everything I do. Sometimes because I resist, other times because I give in to my true self.

My doubts are not my enemies. They are signs that guide me, that dare me to explore new things, that challenge me without demanding me, that know me without limiting me.

Dare to be yourself. It’s a luxury that’s within your reach.