During my undergraduate studies, I enjoyed studying English Literature. I particularly liked poetry and plays.  One phrase of the countless famous quotes, coined by William Shakespeare that has resonated with me over the years is “to thine own self be true.” This line comes from Act 1, Scene III of the famous play, Hamlet. There are various interpretations of the meaning of this phrase; however, to me, it means to be authentic. Being authentic is important because we live in a world of glitz and glam where people operate in pretense. Some people live to obtain likes on social media or just to be liked by our own family and friends.  Often, we can get caught up in trying to please others that we lose sight of what really makes us happy, what makes our heart sing.  This article will discuss three ways you can ensure that you are remaining authentic.

The first key to being authentic is having a sense of identity. To discover your identity, you must ask yourself whose am I and who am I? If you are a Christian, this answer is that you belong to God and you are a child of God. Knowing that we are God’s children and that He is our Father is a powerful and liberating truth. This is powerful because, when others reject us, our heavenly Father is faithful as He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. From this revelation we know that if He be for us then no one can be against us. We further know that we can bring our dreams and the desires of our hearts to Him and we can trust Him with it because He wants what is best for us. This helps us to remain authentic because we realize that we perform for an audience of one, which is God. Knowing that we are God’s children means that we have heavenly backing and God will not allow us to fail.

The second key is listening to your heart. Psalms 37:4 (NKJV) says, “Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Listening to your heart requires a self-assessment. Determining what are your values, what do you like and what do you dislike. Whatever, you find yourself doing, be it in your career, volunteering or working on various projects just make sure that it aligns with your values and that it speaks to your heart. This is important because sometimes we may find ourselves doing things that makes other people happy and not ourselves. Which leads me to my final point, freeing ourselves from people’s opinions.

Finally, to be true to yourself you will have to break free from people’s opinions of you. People will always have something to say about what you are doing or not doing. If you decide to leave your job to start your own business, there will be those who will question your decision. Proverbs 29:25 (NKJV) says, “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe. We can fear people by fearing what we think people may say about us or do to us which brings a snare–a trap.  Worrying about people’s opinion can trap you and cause you not to move and step out to fulfill the desires of your heart.

It is my prayer that you will walk in your identity as a child of God and that you will free yourself from the opinion of others so you can listen to your heart and fulfill the desires that God has put in your heart.  Here’s to being authentically you!

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