DanaAtkin

Children have this knack of being themselves. When they’re happy, they are outwardly happy and joyous. When they’re sad, they cry. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood though, we’re taught to pretend that we’re okay, even if we’re not. We’re taught to be calm even when we’re happy.

Often as adults, we find ourselves in not so great circumstances and we push through, pretending that we’re fine when we’re not and thinking that we have to hold ourselves together that we can’t be unwell or we can’t be upset because people will think less of us. We go to work when we’re sick even though we know it’s important to look after ourselves, we get it in our mind that a business is more important, that something or someone outside ourselves is more important than us and our own wellbeing?!

The fact is that being vulnerable is actually okay. News flash: we’re all human. We’re not perfect because it’s in our nature to always be striving for more, so why deny ourselves of who we really are, our authentic selves? We’re all human. We laugh, we cry and sometimes we get sick and you know what, we don’t need to pretend we’re okay if we’re not, we can cry if we feel so inclined and we can certainly ask for help.

I hear this so often from clients:

“Is it silly that I feel scared to speak up?”
“Is it vain to want to look good?”
“Is it weird that I’m worried about what other people think?”

The lists go on but my answer is always the same – “No it’s not – you’re human, just like every other person on the planet so you’re not alone in this.”

Today, I want you to acknowledge your humanity and the humanity of those around you. Keep an eye out for those who seem to be keeping themselves, their true self at bay and encourage them to be themselves – lead by example.

As always, download and save to your desktop or phone or print it and pin it somewhere you’ll see it. When you see it, say it. And if you know someone who would also benefit from this mantra, share it.