Would You Like You If You Met You?

Would you like you if you met you?

For a long time I knew there was a different version of me that I wanted to be. That person would be more open, expressive, curious, and excited for life.

Instead at the time I was very reserved, cynical, bored, and quietly judgmental of everything I saw.

I knew and had seen examples of more open and expressive people that I admired, but I didn’t think it was available to me.

I made excuses and surmised that it was available to other people because they had been born into more money, were more attractive, and/or had been blessed with a more positive—albeit “simple”—outlook on life.

To my thinking at the time, I was a “deep thinker” who saw the world as it “really was.” I felt a sense of superiority in these ideas and thus it was the natural lot of my profound intellect to be reserved, cynical, bored, and quietly judgmental of everything I saw.

Yet deep down I also didn’t like it and wanted to change. I had a notion that I didn’t have to be that way, that I could choose to be different. I even had a sense that this more open, expressive, curious, and excited for life version of myself might actually be closer to my true self.

The shift seemed tantalizingly close but like another world at the same time.

I didn’t realizing it at the time, but I was stuck in so many negative habits and patterns of thinking that I would have to unwind one-by-one to make the change.

It took me a long time to realize that it was something I could potentially create for myself, but I did it. It can be done.

Ironically, part of the journey was learning to like me as I was each step of the way. To be curious and engaged with myself, and create a more open and expressive attitude in simply the conversations I had happening in my own head.

I’d be curious to hear your thoughts. What does this image and phrase conjure up for you? Has liking yourself been easy for you or was it a journey?

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Storytelling is a fascinating aspect of how we perceive the world and exist as humans. If you’d like to learn more, download the Storytelling Primer below and start learning more about storytelling today.