Please Note: This is a Thought From My Journal™️, which is an actual entry from my journal. It is lifted as-is from my journal without any edits, except when a sensitive detail needs to be removed or changed. This means there will be grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes. (Because who worries about that in their journal?)

I tend to not spell out the words because and with. The shorthand I use is b/c = because and w/ = with. I might swear (especially when impassioned) and I tend to put words in all caps for emphasis. Oh and I can write in run-on sentences. (Because again, no one is worrying about this in their journal.)

Also, I don't always write in full sentences in my journal. I sometimes think better in poetry format, so you might also see a free-verse style poem as my thought.

Entries are in no particular order and will vary wildly in length. The date of the published thought does not correlate with the date of the journal entry. (There, of course, might be exceptions to this rule). There are quite a few older entries, from the past few months to the past 2 years and sometimes all the way up to 5 years ago.

The thought will be written as a quote for formatting, but again it is from my actual journal. Not all of the entries are happy in case you were starting to think I was perfect. (Spoiler Alert: I'm not. I struggle and some of these entries show my Struggles and various emotions).

This thought answers the question: Am I afraid of people getting to know the real me?

I used to be afraid of people getting to know the real me because I hadn't even got to know the real me. What if I didn't even like the real me?

That ended up not happening. Although I had to get used to the real me, because she had been dormant for so long. Not that it took that long.

For the record, I do like the real me.

Now that my online business requires me to be visible (I mean it always has, I had resisted it for way to long) and I'm starting to accept that fact, I'm feeling less concerned or bothered by the fact that people will get to know the real me.

It's honestly been freeing and liberating to be the real me in my business, in my brand, in the encounters I have with other people.

Trying to be something other than yourself is exhausting because you are using more energy in all forms to fit someone else's mold.