Authenticity is more important than positivity.

Do you want to know the secret to living a fulfilling life? Living a life you’ll be grateful for, a life with no regrets and pure enjoyment of every experience? Authenticity.

I used to believe that positivity was the key to a happy and fulfilling life. Staying positive and optimistic must get you somewhere, right? Yet with time, I figured out that positivity can actually hold you back and make you neglect the parts of yourself you should be open about. Neglecting your "negative" attributes or your "flaws" will only hinder and slow down your awakening. By neglecting parts of yourself, you choose what you want to feel, what you like about yourself, and what you don’t want to be associated with. Reflecting is natural, and you should always reflect upon yourself. But choosing to not feel something, to not be something that you truly are in the moment, will only block your truth.

The truth is, we’re here to experience everything that we are meant to. That means feeling what you’re feeling in the now and not seeking explanation for it. Feeling passionate about an idea, standing strong on your values, your beliefs cracking, your weird sense of humor, the music you enjoy, heartbreaks, everything you dislike, the people you love and more. As humans, it’s easy to get criticized; it happens on the daily. But most of the time we criticize ourselves more. We’re conditioned to fit into the society, we’re conditioned to think a certain way, to have certain beliefs, to look a way that’s acceptable. Your authentic self might have different ideas, don’t let those ideas die. Everything about you makes you, you.

Embrace your pure, authentic self in every moment. You'll start to finally get to know yourself on a deeper level, uncovering truths you've been hiding and tucking away. Don’t forget that you don’t have to be open to everyone else, start with opening up to yourself. The rest will follow and flow. How people view should be none of your concern. Your concern should be what qualities you're filling yourself up with. What values you hold that guide you through decision making and why authenticity is important to you. Authenticity might’ve been the last thing on your mind, so if reading this shined at least a little light on it then I’m happy.

Don't identify as anything but experience everything.