Letters from the In-Between: f*ck what they think!

you were never meant

to become smaller

just to fit inside

someone else’s idea of you

there is so much freedom

in no longer needing everyone

to understand you

because perhaps

the moment you stop worrying

about what they think of you

is the moment

you finally begin

to become yourself

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Why do we care so much about what other people think of us?

Why do we say yes when we want to say no?

Why do we trust their opinion of us more than our own?

Somewhere along the way, so many of us learned that being accepted was more important than being real.

So we wear what they will approve of. We say what will make sense to them. We hide the parts of ourselves that might be too different, too strange, too much.

We become who we think we are supposed to be.

And then one day, we wake up and realize we have built a life around other people’s expectations.

A life that looks right from the outside, but does not feel right on the inside.

Because there is nothing lonelier than betraying yourself in order to be accepted.

And perhaps freedom begins the moment you stop asking, “What will they think of me?”

And start asking, “What do I think of me?”

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What I know now

• Real freedom is being authentic and living in alignment with my values.

• What I think of myself will always matter more than what other people think of me.

• I want to be surrounded by people who love and accept me for who I truly am.

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Carry this with you

I am free to be myself. I owe it to myself to let myself be who I truly am.

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Before you go…

What have you done—or not done—simply to fit inside other people’s idea of who you should be?

Comment below…