Happiness Starts with Being True 2 Yourself

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. -ee cummings

In a previous post I shared my cheat sheet to loving yourself which includes the six steps below.

1. Know yourself.

2. Be true to yourself.

3. Accept yourself.

4. Be gentle with yourself.

5. Value yourself.

6. Invest in yourself.

Let’s talk about #2 – Be true to yourself.

First, let’s recap why it’s important to love yourself. It’s pretty simple. Until you learn to love and be happy with yourself you will not be able to love someone else and you won’t be able to accept their love of you. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss out on love because I can’t figure out a way to love myself. As I discussed in another post, knowing yourself is the first step to loving yourself. After all, it’s hard to love someone you don’t even know right?

The next step after you know yourself is to actually be true to yourself. So what does that really mean?

It means listening to your gut instincts and honoring what your gut is telling you.

It means saying no when everyone around you is saying yes to something you disagree with (which also means being true to yourself requires courage.)

It means that you don’t need to follow the trends or drink the drink or take the drug or do the dare because you know it goes against your True Self.

It means respecting who you really are inside. When you respect yourself, others will too because they will see that you are strong and capable of standing up for yourself. It also means that you will, in turn, be able to respect others for being true to themselves.

It means that you let your True Self and your unique personality and individuality shine brightly in the world which makes the world a better place.

It means that you live your life based on your dreams, desires, wants, and goals. This doesn’t mean that you need to disrespect others who might disagree with you but it also means that you won’t give up what you want because of someone else. Basically it means that you can listen to the advice of others but at the end of the day, will do what’s right for you. (I should note that sometimes your parents will decide what’s right for you and because they are older and wiser AND have your best interests at heart it’s ok to listen.)

It means that you actually understand who you are (remember we talked about knowing yourself as step one?) and that you’re willing to spend some time reflecting and meditating on who you are (which is a good reminder that the 7th Secret  to a happy life is to meditate!)

Being true to yourself ultimately means being happy with yourself and recognizing that you are a gift to this world.

Think about the really courageous people you know. It doesn’t matter whether they’re someone in your school or a famous person like Martin Luther King. The people who make a difference in the world are the people who are true to themselves.

Don’t let someone else decide who you are going to be in life.

Be true to yourself.