As people, we are afraid of what people think.
When we live our day to day lives we might wonder if someone may be judging us or if they think that we are doing something weird or wrong.
But we are not the only ones who are worried about this, Rebekah has thought the same thing.
“I feel like I am shy at first and I’m worried about people pretending to be my friends because I think people are being my friends because they don’t want to hurt my feelings,” Rebekah shared with me.
She has been deaf since birth so she knows what it is like for people to “fake it”. Rebekah says that even though she has felt this way around people, she doesn’t feel the same way when she is around others who are like her.
She said, “I have more confidence and knowing that I have a deaf community I’m involved in, that when I sign, I’m not afraid that my signs are going to be bad because they know that I am trying my best.”
As for people in general, she thinks that it is harder to be yourself when you are afraid of what people think. She said that when there is something going on with someone, mentally or in general, people are “just afraid to share what they have” and they don’t know if they want to share because of how others will react to it.
What people don’t know is that being afraid to be yourself is not your authentic self. Rebekah said that authenticity is when someone is unique, different, and being themselves.
“It’s okay to be a little off. Imagine if everyone was the same. You would want something new, you would want to be different.”
When Rebekah looks for someone to be friends with she doesn’t want someone who is like everyone else. She is looking for someone who knows their personality and is different because of it.
“People are embarrassed to be friends with people who are authentic because today we want to roll with society. Everyone has something, even people with disabilities. You don’t see a lot of it because people try to hide. They are afraid when there’s nothing to be afraid of,” she says.
Rebekah wants a world where people are authentic and where people are encouraged to be themselves more and have their differences.
I think that as a world, we all want that. A place where we can be ourselves and be comfortable with the people around us. No one wants the people around them to be fake. Today, make the challenge to be more authentic and to let the people around you be more authentic as well.
Thank you for reading my post! If you like this message, please comment down below your thoughts as next week we will be wrapping up authenticity. Follow me on both Instagram and Twitter to read more about authenticity. Have a wonderful day!