How authentic do you want to be?
If you’ve been following my blog posts, you know I’ve been writing about my need to be true to the person I am. One of my top values is authenticity.
I’ve written about bring true to ourselves at work: Be You. Also on how I want to write articles I want to write, rather than focus on SEO and how sometimes we have to make changes – The time to un-become everything that isn’t really me.
I first wrote on being authentic over 10 years ago:
Have you ever considered the extent to which you are authentic in your life? Are you true to you, or living up to an image, and is this really the image you want?
I’ve recently been interviewed for a voluntary position and through our discussion I was clearly me. I didn’t try to show my good side, but to let my natural personality show through. Why would I want to do anything else?It hasn’t always been this way – many times in the past I have dressed and behaved in a way that pleased others – it got me great success at work, but what about the more passionate and reflective sides, for too long they were hidden away
One way we show ourselves to the world is how we look in real life, but also how we look online. It’s commonplace now to use filter and photoshop to make ourselves look good. After all it’s what we see in the media.
But are we being us?
My photos have always looked like me, but business photos have been taken after hair and make up have been done and there’s been some post-production work on removing blemishes.
My decision was to be me – real.
So, I chose a photographer friend to take me out into nature, not to use studio lighting and to take more candid shots. Nothing was posed. They were all taken as I talked.
I wanted my photos to convey wisdom, calmness, being alive and at ease, maybe curious and a bit rebellious. Quite a lot to capture in a photo.
I’m going to be using them on social media. In time I’ll add them to my website, but not yet. I want to make changes to the text first.
