At the ND leadership conference, I struck up a conversation with a woman who told me she was in South Bend for a wedding, with her wife.

I thanked her for viewing me as a safe person, and trusting me with that information. Then, I asked her if it’s ever HARD to tell people she’s married to a woman.

What she said next BLEW ME AWAY. I won’t forget what she said for a VERY long time.

Watch the video to find out what she said!

My takeaway: it can be HARD, and even SCARY at times, to let people see our true selves.

We often times hide the parts of our lives that aren’t so pretty. So cover up or conceal our interests that aren’t mainstream, or might be a bit embarrassing. We don’t necessarily want others to know what our weird interests or collections look like.

At times, most of us fear that other people may not like or accept us, as we are. We worry about how we SHOW UP because we don’t want other people to be uncomfortable. We try to PROTECT other people.

What about protecting ourselves?

It’s not OUR job to make sure other people feel comfortable. It’s THEIR job.

Today, I’m going to be my TRUE SELF.

I’m wearing my minions shirt and not bothering to move the minion collection off the couch because I’m PROUD of it. I’m especially proud of the most-recent addition, called “Tim In Car” by Universal Studios! It’s the biggest toy that the Banana Cabana offers at Universal Studios, because, yep, I won that sucker by hitting 7 out of 8 bananas off a springboard into right a moving coconut a week ago at Universal Studios; and I’m DARN proud of that.

When I started out in my new profession, someone I REALLY look up and respect gave me some feedback that I’ve always struggled with. I was told: “You better be careful in what you wear or what you show in these videos, so people see you as an authority on executive leadership.”

That always bothered me, just a bit. Because, I know the race medals on the wall, the minions on the couch, and the paint colors in our home do NOT affect my ability to be a terrific executive coach, life coach, speaker, and author.

Who else struggles with this? And who else is going to be who they TRULY are today, and let people accept them as they are?

#beyourself #beyourselfatwork #lifecoach #beyou #beunique #acceptance #loveyourself #loveyourselffirst #selfcare #selfcarematters