Authenticity means you’re true to your own personality, values, and spirit. You do not pretend to be someone who you think you have to be in order to impress your friends, colleagues, and family members. It means being comfortable with letting go of the emotions that you feel when you think you’re being judged if you are truly being your authentic self. Let’s be honest, it’s exhausting.

At work, we wear many different hats. Some days we’re in sales, some days we’re in operations, and most days we’re in multiple positions in one day. In life, we are different people in different situations that may explain a little bit more: when you’re home you’re one version of yourself, when you’re with your friends you’re a different version of yourself, and when you’re at work, I like to think you’re a combination of both. My kids always made jokes that I have 3 versions of myself — they even mocked me (in a good way) on my work voice versus my ‘mom’ voice. If you Google being authentic or being your true self it will pull up thousands of articles. How do you not get lost or confused if you’re trying to uncover your true self? We all want our personality to shine and we want to be “real,” and you can and should!

Now of course it goes without saying that there is a certain way you need to act in certain situations, but you should always in my opinion be yourself. People want to be friends with, and work with, the best true version of you, not the version that has been created to fit in. We can all agree that sometimes we prefer to just fit in because it is easy, and requires less work and less emotion.

If you are ready to be your true authentic self, face it head-on! It will take a lot of self-reflection and won’t happen overnight.

Here are steps you can take to be your true self:

Identify your values.

Identify who you want to be.

Identify who you have been and what you would like to change. Be consistent with how you portray yourself.

Be confident in yourself.

Let your personality shine bright and don’t let anyone take away your sparkle!

Face your fears of taking off your mask.

Identify your circle — are there relationships that are holding you back?

So what does being authentic mean to you? If you are afraid to be your true authentic self what is holding you back? I encourage all of you to dive deep into this.

Ending this article with how my dear friend explains being authentic!

“Being my authentic self means that I am able to show up in any situation, whether it be at work or outside of work, or on social media, as 100% me. I am able to be true to who I am without the pressure of feeling that I have to act a certain way, or the pressure of having to be perfect. Being able to make a mistake or a poor decision and holding myself accountable for it. I’m fortunate to be able to walk into my workplace every single day as the same person, right before and right after I walk through that door. It’s one of the best feelings, knowing I can be 100 percent me, 100 percent of the time!”