Being Genuine

Dear Friend, 

"Be yourself." This phrase is our good friend's motto in life. We hear these two words almost every day and while you think you would get tired of hearing them so often, they are actually a good reminder to stay true to who you are. We often associate "being yourself" with "being genuine," and we thought we'd share some of our thoughts on this through today's post. 

Often times in life, the struggle to be yourself stems from feelings of insecurity. If you are uncomfortable and unhappy with yourself, you may find yourself latching on to people who feed off your insecurities. To put it simply- don't do this to yourself! As we've said many times before, surround yourself with people who only lift you up higher. If you find yourself in a vulnerable state due to lack of self-esteem, take a look around and assess your relationships with people in your life. You may think you have a good group of friends, but in reality, they are just taking advantage of you. They rely on you feeling insecure and make you conform to their group- essentially, you become part of this team. The word "team" usually has a positive connotation to it- when you hear this word, you might think of "unity" or "family." However, not all teams are good for you. Some force you to do everything that they do, and to be honest, this does absolutely no good in your life journey to be genuine. You become a reflection of those around you, so choose wisely the people you spend the most time with. We are who we spend our time around because in extent, we are our minds, which are created by our thoughts, which are based off our experiences, which stem from what we do, which is who we spend time with. 

Although we become very much like the people around us, we must learn to be our own selves. The two of us often joke around that since we are so "bogo" and "codependent" on each other, we are basically the same person. To an extent this is true, but we are also two separate individuals. We have learned to create our own "filters." This does not mean that you should become a different person when you're at school, work, home, etc. There is no need to create a concrete divide between all these areas in your life. Each part  makes up who you are, so embrace them all. In order to do this, we must recognize and strengthen our filters to be different from other's. With our own filters, we can sift through what we believe is good and not good for us- who we should or should not keep in our lives. While creating filters is a great step in staying true to yourself, you must also remember to "clean" the filters- don't let them get clogged or you lose yourself along the way. Being genuine is such a valuable goal to strive for in life. From personal experiences, we know that being yourself can push you towards so many great opportunities and make you appreciate those who have always seen the greatness in you. 

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yours truly,
Kylie and Catherine