ARE YOU REALLY YOU, OR ARE YOU BECOMING WHAT YOU’RE NOT?

Sometimes we change to grow.

Other times, we change because we are afraid that who we really are will not be enough.

And there is a difference.

We live in a world where everyone seems to maintain an image.
Social media shows us how successful people are supposed to look, how relationships are supposed to feel, what beauty is supposed to look like and even how quickly we are supposed to achieve our goals.

After seeing enough of it, it can become difficult to tell where you end and everyone else's expectations begin.

Eventually, you may look at yourself and wonder:

There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve yourself. Growth is necessary.
You should learn, mature, develop better habits and become more confident.

But growth should not require you to abandon yourself completely.

There is a difference between becoming a better version of yourself and becoming a version of yourself that you think people will accept.

The second one can be exhausting.

You constantly have to maintain an image. 
You worry about what people think. 
You compare yourself with people who may only be showing the best parts of their lives. 
And sometimes, you make decisions not because you want them, but because you want to be seen a certain way.

The irony is that while trying so hard to fit in, you may slowly lose the very things that made you unique.

Maybe being yourself does not mean refusing to change.

Maybe it means being honest about why you are changing.

Ask yourself:

You do not have to have everything figured out. You do not have to copy somebody else's timeline. And you certainly do not have to turn yourself into someone else just to prove that you are worth noticing.

Sometimes, the person you are trying so hard to become is hiding the person you already were meant to be.

Or have you become what you thought everyone else wanted you to be?