If the shoe fits, own it!

I was busy finalising the content of my workshop coming up this weekend when it suddenly occurred to me that the practice of authenticity is such a beautiful thing. In a world where everyone is desperately trying to make their lives appear as perfect as possible, being real is such a breath of fresh air.

But did you know that being real is a choice we make not a natural way of being?

I certainly didn’t.

Until I became really aware of my own feelings and behaviours and I realised that most of the time I was not really feeling into how something fits for me but rather responding from a place of habit. Until I got to know me, I was not being real.

For example, exercise was not something I did naturally before because I believed that exercise was not “my thing”. How could it not be “my thing” when I didn’t even experiment with it?

And then I learnt to ride a bike and I loved it and recently I’ve started running and I’m loving it. Who knew that my body loves the rush of cardio and the movement. Certainly not me!

So coming back to the practice of authenticity. In order to be real and genuine we have to learn to know what fits for us not because society says it must but because it feels comfortable when we try it on.

It’s like going into a shoe shop and buying those stilettos because when you step into them you think you become that super model on the cover of Vogue magazine. How many times have you worn those stilettos? Once, twice  or maybe they still in that box with the price tag on? Let’s face it stilettos are not a fit for everyone.

It’s okay to be a sneakers or pumps kinda girl. If that’s your thing, own it and wear it with confidence.

We’ve been so bombarded with the perfect girl stereotype that we’ve lost our sense of self and we’ve lost the most valuable currency we have, our uniqueness.

When we bring the truest and realest version of ourselves to our relationships, we bring value to our own life and the lives of others.

This being real and authentic thing is hard work because it means you have to say what you really feel and you have to know what that is with certainty. It means you have to dig deep sometimes to establish whether something works for you and if it doesn’t it means you have to be courageous enough to say so.

It’s an uncomfortable place to lean into. It’s scary but it’s beautiful. It’s what’s missing in our lives and what we yearn to express without fear of judgement.

Whatever shoe fits you best, step into it, own it, claim it and go out there and conquer the world!