I'm over #authenticity

I think I'm over #authenticity, and curated “vulnerability”. What I'm craving, somewhere deep in the part of me that is tired and still reeling from the past two years, is honesty.

This internet version of authenticity feels like you're working to make your outer life match your hopes for what you want to portray, whether it's a vibe, a reputation, an assumed way you “should” be. But honesty is simply showing the world who you are, where you're at, and what life is like for you with the bravery that it's good enough as is.

Of course, have your boundaries around what you will or won't share online-that's a matter of safety and security. But please don't feel like you have to keep your true self or the state of your heart and mind offline just because it's messy or you're not seeing anyone else doing it.

It's scary, it's maybe counterintuitive, but it's so. desperately. needed.

We all need to feel like there are witnesses to our lives. We all need to know we're not alone. We all need to feel the relief of the collective sigh as an entire group of people says, “I feel the same way”.

And the more you step out with your chest out and hand open saying “this is me”? The more you'll believe the follow up sentence of “and it's enough”. And that's what being almost brave is all about.

Your most honest and vulnerable expression of yourself is the permission slip to those watching to be able to do the same.

Isn’t that the point of all of this? It's quiet, but it's the revolution of free people setting other people free.