Find Your Authentic Self... Again
When I was blogging (that wasn't even a term yet) over 25 years ago it was a real free for all. Well it was for me.
I'd write anything and everything without putting much thought into who would read it. Whatever was on my mind was getting put into text onto the internet for all to see.
I had people I worked with reading it, I'm sure some family members were as well, plus the great collection of random people from all around the world.
It led to great and amazing things without many negative consequences. Everything was so new, I don't think people knew how to deal with it.
Sure people might have been reading what I was writing, but that's all they were doing, they weren't creating anything themselves.
Over time with the social media wave of websites and apps more people could join in, but this led to people only showing the best version of themselves.
People worry what others think about them a lot. The internet amplifies this feeling. There are a lot of people out there who on the face of it have a better life than you.
So people curate and present their own version of a great life. Some carry on and do this all the time. Others may start and then stop or just never started creating.
No matter the case for creating a lot of people are consuming. Consciously or unconsciously they feel the effects of this.
They alter how they behave and what they do, online and in real life.
When you have platforms like this that aren’t driven by shareholders, or subscribe buttons and gives you the bare bones functionality and the space to be yourself, your authentic self, it can feel liberating.
But there will be hesitation. You’ve been bombarded with the alternative for what feels like forever.
The interconnectedness of the internet, the worry of people finding what you wrote, maybe even the trending page here on Bear Blog might even be altering your authentic self.
Don’t you owe it to yourself to try and be that authentic version of yourself?
I know I do.
I hope young people realise they can be that authentic version of themselves as well.
Doing that will free the mind, help connect with like minded individuals and lead to some cool things.