Yesterday I posted the following question inside my Real Beauty Is facebook community.

“What scares you the most about being who you REALLY are?”

The response was fascinating and sort of upsetting. Here’s a sampling of responses:

O Other people’s judgement
O Rejection and disapproval
O I’d come on too strong and people would take offense
O Other people’s reactions and acceptance (and judgements)
O No one would want to spend time with me
O That I STILL wouldn’t be good enough

So, what scares YOU the most about being who you REALLY are?

Can you relate to any of the responses, above?

After reading the responses I got seriously worked up. I wanted to throw my hands up in the air and scream (see pic below).

Here’s why? Because we don’t get a second chance to play this lifetime out. We don’t get to go BACK and say, dammit why did I waste SO much time being afraid? Afraid to be me, afraid to ask for what I want, afraid of how others might judge me.

You see, this is your moment right now. Not when you find your perfect life partner, not when you lose 15 pounds, not when you feel more financially secure, not when you feel more comfortable in your own skin. RIGHT NOW is the time to realize the damage you’re inflicting on yourself EVERY TIME you mask who you really are.

Here’s a major NEWSFLASH. Nobody cares who you are. Seriously. I know this might sound harsh, but it’s a mega truth. If someone is going to talk about you, they’re going to do so whether you’re the REAL you or the FAKE you, so you might as well BE YOU, right?

In a phone conversation with a business strategist yesterday I found myself saying this, “sometimes I hold myself back a little from being as intense and passionate in my Real Beauty Message as I want to be because I’m afraid it’s going to scare people.”

And as soon as those words came out of my mouth I thought, ‘Holy Crap’. What the “eff” was that statement? So your see, I do it too.

So many times in my life I have been labeled “too sensitive, too emotional, too passionate, too intense, too extreme, too caring”. And those labels became the ammunition I used to make myself feel bad about fully expressing who I really am. So I’m in practice too and I’ve come a LONG WAY BABY. Because those descriptors now light me up and fuel my lifelong desire to do exactly what I want to do in the world and to be exactly the type of woman I want to be.

And it’s a damn good thing I’m so passionate and extreme because that’s what it takes to blaze a trail and lead a movement.

So I’m begging YOU to join me on this mission of being your REAL self.

Because when any one of us plays small, dims our light, or hold ourselves back from expressing who we REALLY we reject and disapprove of ourselves, which is the very thing we are afraid others will do to us.

Not only is it exhausting pretending to be something you are not, it pretty much guarantees that you’ll never get from your life what you really want. Not being YOU creates the kind of life that Thoreau describes as QUIET DESPERATION.

He said, MOST (wo)men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

Don’t be like MOST wo(men).

Sing your SONG NOW.
Be exactly who you MOST want to be.
Because none of us are getting out of here alive!

And the worst thing that could happen is that you get to the end of your life and realize that you NEVER gave yourself permission to REALLY live.

Want some REAL tangible action strategies for how to start being who you REALLY are? Stay Tuned. They’re coming in the next newsletter.

Want to share your own strategy for being who you really are? Awesome. Email it to me at lori (at) realbeautyis (dot) com & I’ll share it in the next newsletter.

Now go out and BE YOU (because that’s REAL BEAUTY!)
Xo Lori