I spent YEARS suppressing, concealing and holding back on things about myself. Things that made me ME.
Little things like lying about my name. It was just easier as a child to say my name was "Shannon" so that I wasn't different.
Or bigger things like not speaking up in circumstances I wasn't comfortable with.
I hid my quirks, my true feelings and so much of myself, well into adulthood, without even realising it. I wasn't truly embracing who I was.
But why?
I was outwardly confident, bubbly and self aware. It couldn't possibly be down to insecurity and self doubt.
Or could it?
Self confidence, self-belief, genuinely feeling comfortable in the skin you're in, believe it or not, those things that are easy to fake.
I know, because I did it every day, most of my life. I am a walking talking example of how you can "fake it till you make it".
But faking it isn't what I'm really all about. And it's not what I encourage.
Why fake it when you can have the real deal?