It Takes Strength To Be Who You Really Are

It takes courage to look expectations in the face and politely say no thank you to their call. It takes determination to walk into a room filled with people who think they are the same as you and reveal your true colors.

Maybe you lived your entire life trying to be orange. Thinking that if you said this, wore this, denied this, subdued those questions, that you could be just as orange as everyone else. Let’s face it, you always knew you were at the bare minimum a weird squint-your-left-eye-and-tilt-your-head-to-the-right-and-blink-five-times-and-it-could-possibly-be-orange shade of orange, but you tried your damnedest to be as orange as you could be.

And then some of your surroundings change. Friends change. Environments change. The orange culture changes.

Suddenly, there are yellows, and greens, and blues, and purples, and colors you can’t even name. And then, expectations change. No one cares if you’re a distorted burnt orange or a vibrant teal. But 25 years of trying to be a color you weren’t sure you were is hard to shake. It’s hard to look all those oranges in the eye and tell them you’ve been a purple all this time. Hell, it’s hard to look yourself in the eye and admit you’ve been a purple all this time.

It takes strength to be who you really are.

When you find yourself back in the orange culture, standing there, all purple and shit, allow yourself to feel the airy nature of freedom. You. Are. Free. Free to be whatever color you are.

Free to breathe in the beauty of your individuality and breath out the weight of other’s expectations. You are, and always have been, whatever you desire to be. And your life will always be better spent, developing your true color, honing the authenticity of it, making sure it looks exactly the way you want it to, rather than trying to fit in a casing you don’t belong in.

It takes strength to be who you really are.

Purple with a hint of orange, and flecks of green maybe. Red with hints of pink and gold undertones possibly. You are never just one thing, but whatever color you are, live it loud and strongly and without shame.