Authenticity
People don’t always like it when you like yourself more than they think you should.
When you refuse to be ashamed of things they believe you should feel guilt over.
When you stop apologizing for existing in a way that doesn’t conform to their expectations.
Living your life according to your own tastes and interests can make others uncomfortable—not because you’re doing something wrong, but because it reveals the ways they are still pretending.
Authenticity can feel threatening to those who have spent their lives contorting themselves to fit in. Your ease in being yourself reminds them of the effort they put into being someone they’re not. It’s not jealousy, exactly—it’s grief—a deep, unspoken sorrow for the parts of themselves they’ve silenced.
Instead of looking inward, some will lash out. They’ll try to shrink you, make you doubt yourself, convince you that you’re selfish, arrogant, or out of line. If they can pull you back into the same rules they follow, they won’t have to face their own discomfort.
But their reaction isn’t your responsibility.
You don’t owe anyone a smaller version of yourself to make them feel better about the life they aren’t brave enough to live.
You don’t need to contain yourself for someone else’s comfort.
Let them be triggered. Let them wrestle with their feelings.
See them in light and continue to let yourself be free.