Stay true to yourself and you’ll come a long way. But it is also scary as fuck to show your soul to the world, because what if people don’t like it or don’t consider it good enough? So, how does one do it? True, staying real isn’t easy as pie, but there are ways to come a lot closer to who you are and what you want in life. Take the baby steps below and see what happens…

Try to be sincere all of the time

Being sincere might take some practice, but it is worth all the while. Start by just doing what feels good. Don’t act interested while you’re not, or quietly nod along when you’re actually screaming on the inside. It might be hard at the start, but you’ll feel relieved and incredibly free once you manage to incorporate this into your life.  

Are you doing it for you?

If you’re about to enter a new situation, start a new job, hobby or whatsoever, ask yourself the following: ‘Am I really doing this for me? Or am I actually doing this for someone else?’. If the answer to the first question is ‘yes’, you’re good. If the answer to the second question is ‘yes’, you’d better get wondering about where you are in life right now and if it’s really the right place for you and you only.  

Ride alone sometimes

With all the influence from the outside world, it can be hard sometimes to stay true to yourself. Isolating yourself every once in a while will help you discover the things that are really important to you. Without getting distracted by friends’ or family’s values, it will be much easier to hear your own thoughts and to see your own views.

Don’t be needy

Don’t go out of your way to please other people in order for them to stay with you. If they would walk away when you’re doing you, then you could ask yourself who it was they liked in the first place. Save yourself some energy and don’t depend on other people’s approval.

Listen to your gut – not other people

When facing difficult situations, dilemmas or big decisions we often turn to ratio or other people’s advice for an answer. Seems like the responsible thing to do, but is it, really? Facts or outside views can clear things up when your vision is blurred, but in the end they don’t really reflect your own true feelings about something. Whatever you choose to do, YOU are the one who has to live with it, so it might as well feel good. So turn inward, search that soul and go by your gut.

Making mistakes is not the end of the world

So, you tried out something new and you failed tremendously. Spoiler: It’s not that big of a deal. People fuck up sometimes. Actually, people fuck up all the time and you’re not the only one. Failing might even be good thing. You had the chance to live and learn. Since you had the chance to see this thing is not for you, you came a step closer to your end goal: finding the real you. Bonus: you won’t have any what-if-worries in a year or so. You already found out things went terribly awry.

Dream big, baby girl

Having big goals, helps you stay on track. You can measure up all your actions to that enormous vision you have in mind. Is what your doing really in service of your plans or are you just wasting your time? Ask yourself this when in doubt and you’ll find that goddamn direction.

You’re gonna die today, so you might as well stay true to yourself

Kidding. You’re probably not gonna. But what if you did? Would you still care that much about how the world is going to judge your actions? Would you still be scared about other people’s reactions? Well, there you have it. There’s really not all that much to lose and with that, there’s really not all that much of a reason not to follow your heart.