Stop Waiting to Be Picked - Choose Yourself

I've been an introvert all my life. I was shy, reserved, and hesitant to be myself around others. I often felt like a fake, pretending to know things that I actually didn't know about.

For a while, I kept pushing myself out of my comfort zone and tried harder to fit in with the crowd. I socialized more, made new friends, and became popular among my colleagues, bosses, and subordinates at work.

I knew inside me a real person was trying desperately hard to get outside, but I couldn't seem to escape this vicious loop of fear - fear of being judged by others for who I was!

It always seemed easier to keep pretending…

But deep down inside me, I knew I was being inauthentic to myself. I tried to conform, but it never felt right or real.

There came a time when I had enough of the façade that I created to impress people around me. It wasn't making me happy anymore and gave my life any direction either. So one day, I took an important decision to let go of this fake self.

I decided not to pretend anymore - to be true to myself!

It didn't come easy though, breaking free from the cage of fear is never simple. My urge was strong, but my worries were even stronger!

But gradually, with every little step towards rediscovering who I really was, I started feeling liberated and happier than ever before.

I made a conscious effort to take more time for myself and did things that I loved doing. It was a tough journey - limiting my social life, making new friends, and suddenly becoming more reserved than ever before - but it was worth every bit of it!

Today, after transforming my life by redefining who I am, I can proudly say that I am living the real me!

After spending most of my professional life in front of the laptop screen while pretending to be an expert in fields I wasn't familiar with or reading books that were not relevant to me, writing became my passion.

So naturally, when it was time to choose a career, I gravitated towards it and became a full-time writer.

Shedding the Fake Image = Accepting You Were Fake

For as long as I can remember, I've felt like I was living a lie. Everything about me felt artificial and superficial, from the clothes I wore to the way I acted. I desperately wanted to be someone else, someone who was confident and carefree. But the more I tried to be something that I wasn't, the more unhappy and lost I felt.

It wasn't until I let go of my fake self that I finally began to find my true passion in life. It turns out that the key to finding happiness is not in trying to be someone you're not but in embracing who you are. Once I started being authentic and genuine, I began to feel more content and fulfilled than I ever had before.

It was a slow and gradual process, but eventually, I realized that the key to finding my passion was to stop looking for it externally and start looking for it internally. Once I started digging deep within myself, I discovered many hidden talents and interests that I never knew existed.

The more I embraced who I was; the more passionate I became about life. These days, my passion is no longer about trying to be someone else but about being true to myself. And that is the ultimate act of self-love.

So if you're feeling lost and unhappy with your life, maybe it's time to let go of your fake self and embrace your true self. 

When you finally start living life for yourself, that's when the passion will start to flow.

Passion Leads to the Purpose

"If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose." 

- Bishop T.D. Jakes

I've always been a writer. Ever since I learned how to form letters and string them together into words, I've been putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). But it wasn't until recently that I realized my true passion for writing. And once I recognized this, everything changed.

It was as if a lightbulb went off in my head, and I finally understood what it was that I wanted to do with my life. Up until that point, I had been drifting through life without any real sense of purpose. But finding my true passion for writing led me to be living a life of purpose.

When I was young, I remember being so passionate about writing. Every single day during elementary school, my best friend and I would stay after school until 5 pm so that we could write stories together. We were always competing to see who could come up with the most creative idea for our next story.

He would say something like, "Let's write a story where everyone in the world is born with wings!" Then without even thinking, I'd say, "I have an idea! Let's write a story where there are 3 magical turtles who protect people from evil monsters!" My ideas for stories got more and more elaborate as time went on… But at this point, it wasn't about finding the perfect career anymore - it was about finding myself.

As I got older, my passion for writing went through many changes. My friends and I would play skits and dance, and we put up a show every year at school. We wrote all the storylines, poems, and drama ourselves and even created our own music to go along with them! This was before Youtube, so it wasn't easy… But it was so incredibly rewarding to express ourselves creatively like that. By this point, creating things with my friends had become my true passion for writing.

I lost touch with these friends as time went on, but they are still very important to me now, especially because they helped me discover what mattered most to me - creativity.

And every single day since then, I've constantly been thinking of new ways to express myself creatively. During my time in college, I started painting and hosting events. And now that I am out in the real world, I'm constantly looking for creative outlets through blogging, photography, and video editing.

It wasn't until recently that everything fell into place, though. One day, I realized what it was that I wanted to do with my life! Instead of only making up stories about animals who fight demons or transforming turtles (like when I was 8), now it's more like… "What if there were three magical dogs who protected people from vampires… But also there were zombies." As soon as I realized this, I knew that I wanted to write for a living.

It took me a long time to get here, but I finally realized that my true passion for writing is creating things - stories, music, videos, you name it! And once I recognized this, everything changed. I started taking my writing more seriously and began to look for ways to make a career out of it. And so far, it's been going great!

Just last week, I was able to write and publish an article about how following my true passion for writing led me to be living a life of purpose!

So if you're feeling lost right now, don't worry - it's perfectly normal.

Just take your time and keep exploring until you find what really matters to you. And when you do, go for it! Pursue your passion with everything you have and never look back.

If You Fit the Mold, Then You're Not Real 

Living your life according to someone else's expectations or societal norms can be tough. It can often make you feel like you are not good enough or like you are living a lie.

But what's important to understand is that you are not a fake, neither is anyone else around you!

You and everyone else should embrace who they are and live life on their terms. You will feel liberated, relaxed, and happy once you let go of your fear. And this can be achieved by redefining yourself according to your terms rather than going with the flow dictated by society's norms!

Once you do so, things will start falling in place - a new sense of direction will emerge from within you, followed by passion and enthusiasm. This way, success will come naturally to you instead of being chased or chased after - because for the first time in life, what's important to you will be important for others as well!

So stop trying to fit in; start trying to stand out! Because once you do so, you will find yourself living the real you! So go on and create your own unique identity - one that is authentically yours.

Life is too short to live on tomorrow.

There are no failures, only lessons learned - so learn from your mistakes and redefine who you are, because only then will success come naturally to you instead of being chased or chased after.

Final Thoughts

It's okay not to know what you want to do with your life.

It's normal to feel lost and confused at times. All you need to do is keep exploring until you find your true passion. And when you do, go for it with everything you have!

Don't try to fit in; start trying to stand out. Because once you do, you will be living the real you!

So go on and create your own unique identity - one that is authentically yours. 

Life is too short to live by someone else's terms. And it's always better late than never! Pursue your passion with everything you have and never look back!