It’s hard to be true to yourself. It’s way easier to try to keep everything “exactly as it always has been.”

But why is that?

Why is it that everything starts to feel like it’s changing — when all you’re trying to do is become more true to yourself?

  • Friends who you’ve spent years with suddenly start acting differently around you.
  • Peers you’ve known forever don’t see eye to eye with you anymore.
  • Some of the people around you won’t relate to you in the same ways as years before.

Some of the things you’ve “always” loved? those change too.

You’ll start to feel less passionate about the things you were once so passionate about. You realize that you’ll have to erase some old pastimes and hobbies and interests in order to make room for the new interests, people and passions in your life.

Even those “same old, same old” interactions at your job, local cafe or hometown bar will start to feel drier, emptier, or even frustrating to you.

As you become more and more “unapologetically you,” things start to change.

It can be scary. It can feel completely strange and totally uncertain.

But what is it that’s really changing?

When you become “more and more you,” you break the hamster wheel.

You take yourself out of your comfort zones and learn more about yourself than you ever thought possible. You look in the mirror and can barely recognize who this “new you” is.

When you break the hamster wheel, you begin to see yourself, your life, your relationships and your friendships with completely new eyes. The prism is wiped clean; the lens is renewed.

In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, longtime habits and patterns of thinking or behavior are called Samskara. We refer to Samskara often in yoga, too. Samskara are like paths with deep grooves that we’ve walked in for years. It feels comfortable and familiar to walk in them. It’s easy to think in those usual patterns because it’s a default setting for us.

It’s habit. Instinct. Cruise control.

I want to know: what is it that’s pushing you to become “more and more you” these days?

Maybe the predictability of your life has sparked a ridiculous urge for change. For an improvised adventure. A booked plane ticket to anywhere that’s not here. You wish to read more or explore foreign lands, to connect with new people or dive deep into ancient and revered philosophies.

Maybe you’re desperate to win the lottery if it just means that you can do something new, go somewhere different or try something risky and freeing and “wild” that isn’t this same old path–the same old groove that you’re living in, the same old path that you’re walking, the same Samskara.

Here’s what most people don’t realize until it’s too late:

When the novelty of new surroundings beings to subside, you’re left viewing the world from the same prism. Your mind.

When what looks so different and feels so fresh becomes expected and familiar and old, the ways in which you view yourself (and the world around) you quietly start to slide back back into those old patterns of thought and habit.

Take it from someone who’s not had a boss besides himself for 5 years. Who’s written 500 essays, worked with over 100 clients, and tried-and-failed dozens upon dozens of projects. Take it from someone who’s traveled 38,000 miles last year, moved into the heart of New York City before backpacking through the United Kingdom and Iceland, spoken before an audience of 200 and had a book proposal rejected 200 times, and beyond.

Change the setting, and yes, you shake things up.

Change the background, and indeed, you see the world–and yourself–in new ways.

But when enough time passes, you’re still you.

You’re still left seeing the world through your lens. Your viewpoint. Your soul.

Here’s the great news. You can clean your lens. Polish and prime it. Change how you look through it.

And what you focus on. And how you value the beauty of what you see.

You possess this infinite power–choice–and through some hard-earned lessons and plenty of dedication and commitment, no matter who you are or what you do you can start living a brand new life from exactly where you are today.

It begins by becoming more and more “unapologetically you.”

In a world that seems to be constantly telling you to become something you’re not, I believe in everything that you already are.

Being “unapologetically you” is your ultimate freedom.

It’s where lifelong joy is found.

It’s how you begin to craft a lasting legacy of love on behalf of the world around you.

If you like what you’re hearing, sign up to my newsletter below.

Together, we’ll support one another in staying true to ourselves, unapologetically.

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