2023-01-15 What Having Real Guts Looks Like

It’s hard to find a real person. Most of us are not ourselves most of the time. We are very much the collective influence of those we associate with the most. We are even the characters we watch on T.V.

It seems that few people take the time to get to know themselves and even fewer have the fortitude to be themselves in public. It’s not easy to be your true self when most of the people around you are not being themselves. It’s not easy to be your true self when most of the people around you expect you to be like them.

But when we choose to do it, we become mirrors of truth. Those around us see that they are not being real. And they either admire you or resent you for it. And even those who resent you probably hold a secret admiration. It’s only because they are not willing to be themselves too that they try to make themselves feel better by putting you beneath them.

How bold are you willing to be? Are you willing to sacrifice your reputation and risk being rejected? Being your true self comes with a certain amount of loneliness. But the world needs you to be your true self, even though it acts like it doesn’t want you to.

By “true self” I don’t mean speaking without restraint or doing whatever we feel like doing regardless of circumstances. I mean the you that is not all about self, and the you that stands up for others in the face of lost reputation.

When we sacrifice our reputation we become invincible, because there’s nothing for our opponents to attack. All they can attack is your view of yourself — your ego self, which you have already crucified.

When you make your words and actions about truth, rather than about yourself (your image, your reputation, being right) then you are free and you are powerful.

And no matter how many times we slip up and make it about ourselves again, we can always crucify that resurrected ego once more.