I love this quote from Gary Vee. Never aologize for who you are ? Each one of us has been created uniquely and perfectly as who we are meant to be. What we do with our strengths and weaknesses, passions and gifts…well that is completely up to us. The one thing I believe we should never do is apologize for who we are.
Let me explain. Saying this does not mean that we shouldn’t apologize when we make a mistake, do something wrong or hurt someone. No that is definately not what I mean. We need to right our wrongs. Those are actions not who you are. Being mean, rude or hurtful are actions. Everyone is good at their core, as humans being humans, we act good or bad. We are not bad.
What I mean is, that we should never apologize for who we are. Especially when it’s others making us feel bad because we are not being who they want us to be or who they think we are. For example, if you are an artist when your long line of lawyers relatives want you to be a lawyer. Or if you are a woman of child bearing years busy building career success when society tells us that you should be having children. Trust me, I relate strongly to the last one.
However when you are unaplogectically who you are and you chase the life you want for yourself, slowly but surely, you teach people that you will not waiver. When you know your mind and act like it, I have found that people don’t even try to give their opinions to me. I know what is right for me. No one else does. Not my parents, friends or my husband. I wouldn’t dream of asking another person for an opinion on how to run my life. It’s my life. Of course, as a respectful partner, I make sure my husband is ok with my chosen path because we are a team. However, even Anthony wouldn’t tell me what to do with my life. Just like I wouldn’t tell him what he had to do with his life. We are two individuals and a team, working seperately and together, to accomplish our individual and shared dreams. It works. It’s what I call respect.
Only you know what right for you and YOLO. Honestly, you only live once so promise me that you will make your life yours and that you will strp into your gifts/talents and passions to create the life you were meant to live.
Most important, promise me that you will never apologize for who you are. Cause darling that would be a crying shame,
Your Self Assured Friend,
Tracy