I heard my friend curse.
Years ago, we’d hired him to install hardwood flooring in our new sun room. He’d missed the nail and left a small hammer mark in the expensive wood. My wife and I assured him that it was fine. We actually like a few dings because it gives the floor character and shows that it’s real.
I’m working on adopting that perspective for myself. My instinct is to present a faultless, unblemished version of myself to everyone. But that’s not a true picture. It’s not reality. Letting my blemishes and imperfections show makes me more alive, more relatable, more real. The posts where I admit my failings and mistakes regularly get more engagement than my success stories.
It makes sense. With so much fake, filtered, and curated content online, there’s a real hunger for the real, the raw, the unvarnished. We respond to it on a visceral level because we know that’s our personal reality. We’re all lovable, beautiful, and worthy, but we’re also scarred, imperfect creatures with growth edges. Like draws like. Deep calls to deep. Truth satisfies in a way the manufactured never can.
As you consider what to share online and with those around you, drop your guard a little. Open up. Be vulnerable. Be real. Let your cracks show, because, as the saying goes, that’s where your light shines through. If you do, you’ll help create a more honest and meaningful world, and you’ll take another step toward Becoming Yourself.
This post was originally published July 20, 2024.
1. Enjoy my soon-to-arrive granddaughter 2. Spend time with my dad 3. Publish my How…
Strengths pushed to extremes become weaknesses. I didn’t come up with that idea, but I…
The smack of cold air made me question my choice. Living in Phoenix Arizona has…
It was a painful realization. Many years ago, the independent church I was working for…
His name was Red. In a familiar summer ritual of my childhood, Dad pulled his…
The man was surly. We’d eaten at the restaurant several times. The food was good…