resources > wtf is authenticity?

What does it actually mean to be authentic?

There is this prevailing thinking that authenticity means you shouldn’t change. It’s concepts like this where pop-psychology really annoys me.

Not changing means stagnation. Period. Zero growth. But why should we bothering “growing” to begin with? And what the fuck does it mean to be authentic if you’re changing? Well, here you go:

If I’m a person who has always used my bare hands to take hot things out of the oven, I am a person who always has burnt hands.

I OWN that. I am a person who grabs hot things and has burns on my hands. I am not afraid to be that person and I don’t hide it. I am authentic.

But today, something changed:

I decided I want to stop having burns on my hands and will start using oven mitts. Or perhaps I was not aware that oven mitts exist and today I came across some information that showed me that they do and holy crap this new information is really useful.

So as of today I’m using oven mitts and I’m no longer in chronic pain. Fuck yeah! But did I somehow betray my authenticity? Absolutely not! As long as I now *OWN* the fact that I’ve become an oven mitt user, I am still me and I am my real self and I don’t hide who I’ve become. I’m just not the me with fucked up hands and chronic pain.

So I haven’t betrayed myself AND I’ve grown AND I’m reaping the benefits of growing. Fuck yeah.

Remember, change is not a betrayal of who we are. It’s growth. Own the old you, own the current you, own the future you and you will always be true to yourself.