Why We're All Terrified of Being Ourselves (And What That Fear Really Is)

1 week ago

Society tells us to "be yourself" — then punishes us the moment we actually do. Be different, but not too different. Speak your truth, but make sure it's acceptable. The moment your passion stops being a hobby and becomes your life, society calls it a mistake. What happens to the child who loved painting? He chooses something "safe," something "respectable" — and society congratulates him for becoming acceptable, not successful. We become prisoners of an imaginary audience, carrying the judgments of people who forgot us five minutes later. But the real reason we suffer is simpler than we've been told. You don't know who you are. The moment you see that you are the self-aware reality — the ground on which the whole drama appears — the story loses its grip. You are not searching for yourse