Authentic

One day many moons ago, a good friend called me in a panic. He was the president of the local hotel/motel association, and they were having their monthly luncheon meeting on that day. The main speaker had just called him to tell him that he was sick and couldn’t make it. 125 people had signed up to attend and my friend asked me to “stand in” and speak. He didn’t even care what I talked about. He was that desperate.

I’m not sure how many other people he had called before me, but he was a good friend that had bailed me out of some tight situations, so I told him that I’d be there for him.

I rushed around, showered, fixed my hair, put on my makeup, then dressed. I had just bought one of the new “Units” (stretchy material, all one piece with a stretchy waistband) dresses, and I was feeling kind of skinny, so, in a rush, I put it on.

Now, this was before TED Talks, but at the luncheon, I talked about hospitality in a funny way since I knew very little about running a hotel. Everyone was laughing a lot and hopefully left with a renewed enthusiasm for their career.

Another dear friend who was in the audience came up to me afterward to tell me how much she enjoyed my talk. She praised my humor and my guts for costuming my presentation.

Huh? I asked her what she was talking about.

She told me that I had my dress on inside out and that the tags were very visible in the back and front. She said that everyone thought it was part of my speech. And then she said, “Those of us that know you expect something whacky every time you do a presentation. It was great!”

I was mortified, but I smiled and hugged her for being so kind. I then went to the bathroom to make sure I didn’t have broccoli in my teeth as well. Sheesh!

I share this with you as a reminder that it is pointless to worry about what other people think of us. No matter how weird you are, whether intentional or not, you are appreciated.

As the new year is still fresh on everyone’s mind perhaps the healthiest goal any of us could strive to achieve is to adopt balance in our lives by cultivating and celebrating our authentic selves.

Yay you! You are the one and only YOU. You are an original.

“Life is funny. Things change. People change. But you will always be you. So stay true to yourself and never sacrifice who you are for anyone.”

~Zain Malek