There is beauty in being transparent.

I’ve been told that I wear my emotions on my sleeve. If I am feeling something, I don’t even have to say it, because you can see it on my face and see it in my body language. If you ask me a question, I will answer honestly and probably give you too much information. Perhaps I shouldn’t say ‘too much’, just more information than most people would give. I’m brutally honest, and not ashamed to be open. What you see, is what you get. This has allowed me to have some extremely close and successful connections with people that appreciate these qualities, but has also caused a lot pain. There have been many times when I have tried to reign in my transparent personality, and it just flat doesn’t work. What I have come to realize (finally) is that when you feel as though you need to reign in your authentic personality, you are in a situation that you are trying to force. When you try to force something to fit, it never works. Its silly to think about, how we try to force ourselves to fit in at work, in friendships, relationships, but if you can’t get your pants over your hips, what do you do? You simply move on to another pair! It doesn’t mean you are happy about it, but you don’t have a choice! Life is not always as cut and dry as not fitting into a pair of pants, but my point is that, the sooner that we allow ourselves to be transparent and really accept who we are as individuals, the easier our lives will become.

I think that people assume that to be transparent, you have to share every aspect of your life with the world. To me, being transparent means that you have nothing to hide, not that you openly share personal problems and events with everyone that comes your way. Determining what you share, is a personal decision. There are no rules, it has to be what works for you!

So, go with your gut, say what you mean, mean what you say.

At the risk of sounding cliché, DO YOU, BE YOU!