Authentic.

Last week, on three separate occasions, I was given feedback by people I admire. Two of those were part of a formal assessment process. One came out of the blue. I respect the skills, opinions & experience of all three people. And I was glowing.

‘Exemplary’ ‘A style that’s yours – don’t ever change it’ ‘Have you considered contacting this publication’

To say I was on Cloud 9 is an understatement. And then, in that same week, I had an opportunity to speak into a few people’s lives. An opportunity to sow some seeds of encouragement, build some people up, cheer for them on the sidelines. Not to give advice, not to solve anything, but just to reassure.

It made me think that this is what the world should be like. In fact, despite of the public and not so public face of ‘trolls’ this is generally what my social media experience is like (especially with my online ‘girl mafia’). The receiving and giving of this encouragement just felt so damn good.

This week, the echo has continued .. authentic, authentic. It’s in my inbox, in my twitter feed, in my facebook timeline. Different authors, different messages, same theme – be authentic.

I’ve never really struggled with the concept. I’ve never felt a desire to try and fit in (apart from my teenage years when I just wanted to feel accepted by my peers, but that’s high school for you). But the workforce just came with a desire to feel acknowledged for what I was capable of. I never felt like I had to change who I was or what I did. So I’ve always been authentic.

Clearly, it’s an important theme though and something I need to take conscious notice of. I’ve no idea why or how it may serve me, but I’ll hold tight to it.

Be Authentic. There’s no-one else in the world like you. And that’s important.

-SCuff

P.S. Before you go thinking how perfect I must be, I yelled at my kids today in the supermarket. Authentic also means human.

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