What is it that you don’t want people to know about you?
This is the question that I asked Susan Blech, featured in this week’s Inspiring People, and because turnaround is fair play, I felt compelled to ask myself that same question:
What is it that I don’t want people to know about me?
I don’t want people to know that I secretly feel like a nobody; that I am nothing and that everyday I have to keep convincing myself that I am not a complete and total failure as a result of the choices I have or haven’t made. I don’t want people to know that what I fear most is, after all is said and done, my life will have amounted to—
not very much at all, really.
There it is, right there …
I don’t want anyone to know any of these things about me but at the same time, I am clear that when I choose to just be honest with myself, I can start to move—beyond. When I am willing to candidly reveal my imperfections to the world, I expand my capacity to trust and to grow, and I grant myself the opportunity to strike a chord with someone who might be in the same boat.
Being open and real is not an easy thing for anyone to do. “Authentic” is not an easy way to be. We are socialized early on to pretend perfection; to always wear a smile and to maintain that “we’re just fine”. We are taught that disappointment, hurt, regret, fear, failure and self-doubt—of any kind—are experiences that must remain concealed. Yet, these are the very experiences that ultimately help to shape our greatness; the experiences that when generously revealed, might just make a difference in someone else’s life.
What is it that you don’t want anyone to know about you?
Perhaps an honest answer and a down to earth response is what allows us to express and confirm our humanity and to eventually—
LIVE FREE!
