At ProServeIT, where I currently work full-time, we have an all-employee office hour every Friday hosted by the CEO. One of the agenda items every Friday is “Passion Talk”. One employee gives a brief (usually less than 5 minutes) Passion Talk speech. It was an initiative started to get to know each other while everyone works remotely.
Here is a portion of my passion talk where I talked about “authenticity”. Thought it would resonate with those who have been told the are “too much”.
Just like many of you, I have many passions. But the one I will talk about in the next minute or so is authenticity .
To me what authenticity means is being self aware and being authentically me, which leads to happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment, and ability to truly connect with the people I care about.
Throughout almost four decades of my life, I was told I am too much - many times over and over again. You’re too ambitious. You are too strong minded. You are too independent. You’re too different. You are… too much.
I tried to tone it down. Tried to fit in. Pretended to be someone or something else than myself. Tried to live up to the expectations. Followed the norms. Of the groups I was a member of and society in general.
That led to confusions. I wasn’t sure who I was. If I existed to be someone/something I’m not, why do I exist? There are many others. In fact, there are too many of us humans - our planet is over populated.
I wanted to (and still do) understand who I really am. What I enjoy doing. What gives me goosebumps. What gives me more energy than I can contain.
Knowing my purpose, the values I live by, why I’m doing what I’m doing every day… Figuring these out isn’t as simple - at least to me, it isn’t - but it helps us find our own ways, make the most optimal decisions we can possibly make, and live fully, I believe.
Trying to really understand who I am greatly helped me when I made major life decisions like where to live (here in Canada as an immigrant or moving back home), who to marry, whether to become a mom, which job and career to go for, etc.
And here are some books that inspired and encouraged me:
One book I do want to add to this list is “Do Cool Sh*t” by Miki Agrawal. Here is a quote she included in her book which is just perfect for this post:
Why fit in when you’re born to stand out? - Dr. Seuss