The Truest Test of Character

What does it mean to be genuine?

First and foremost, it means being honest with yourself. It means being unashamed of your humanness… imperfections, questionable choices, and everything that makes you wildly, beautifully you. Being honest enough with yourself to own all of it and stand proud in who you are, regardless of who the world tells you to be.

Do you ever catch yourself saying one thing and feeling another? Or notice that your thoughts don’t match your true experience?

This would look like, for example, your inner dialogue telling you you’re not angry when you actually are. Or making a choice you felt regretful about afterward, but not admitting it. A common reason this happens is the pervasive labeling of anger, shame, guilt, and other heavy emotions as bad, and the insistence that you’re weak for feeling them.

Therefore, the anger goes unacknowledged, as does the sadness underlying it.

This sounds silly, but most of us are taught not to feel “negative” emotions, or any strong emotions at all… especially men. Emotional masking, or emotional bypassing, is a hugely detrimental habit to both our mental and physical well-being. It’s a habit that we often aren’t even aware of.

Why?

Honesty with ourselves is the truest test of character, and therefore one of the most challenging stances to take.

Practicing the art of honesty in your toughest moments is one of the most powerful ways you can take ownership of your life. That honesty with yourself will reflect out into the world. You will feel less ashamed of showing your genuine self to the people around you because you own yourself—your whole self. Hesitation is replaced with confidence, and defensiveness with compassion.

You will still feel safe when you feel like people can see right through you because, maybe for the first time ever, you will have nothing to hide from yourself.

If you think this is something you should not be going through, please know that it is a normal part of being human. You are not messier than the rest of us. We are all going through this process too.

Your soul came here to grow, and every time you heal a part of yourself, that’s exactly what it’s doing. Every single time is a celebration of you fulfilling your purpose and moving one step closer to feeling whole.

Step into your light by being honest enough with yourself to shine that light on your darkness.

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If this resonated, start with The Art of Being Human, or explore more through The Resilience Method© Core Training.