Authentic August – Day 4
Rule #2 of Authentic August is to publish my daily blog post before midnight. It’s currently 10:57pm.
So I have roughly an hour to write 500 words (rule #1), so we’ll see how this goes! The previous 3 days’ posts all took longer than an hour, but perhaps there was a bit of Parkinson’s Law at play…
Parkinson’s Law states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
In other words, if you have a project due in a week, it’ll take the whole week to finish that project. But as any master procrastinator like myself knows, that same project can be completed in 24 hours.
So because in the last three days I was not on a time crunch, the posts took longer than an hour to write. To be sure, they are probably a bit more well thought out than this post will be, but that’s kind of the point of this daily practice: to share my unpolished thoughts, to just be authentic, however imperfect that may be.
Cheers to Authenticity!
Speaking of being more authentic, part of why I’m writing this post so last minute is because just minutes before I began typing, I had uploaded my latest YouTube video – BE MORE AUTHENTIC: Choosing authenticiy over “growth hacks” on YouTube. This video was actually recorded before I started this blog, so technically this blog is an echo to the video. I’m just expressing how I want to focus more on authenticity instead of achievement. Actually, I was speaking to a friend yesterday, and strangely we’ve both been feeling this desire for more authenticity. As we were sharing stories, I said this:
“I want the success that comes from authenticity.”
Because whatever God/the Universe has in store for me is far grander than any dream life I could imagine on my own. But accessing this grander vision is only possible when we step into who we really are, when we live authentically. And that’s why I’m sharing myself as unfiltered as possible. Because you never know what doors will open just by being you.
Plus, don’t we deserve to discover who we are deep down? Wouldn’t it be amazing to meet your best self? That can’t happen if you’re always trying to be someone else. True transformation is borne of true acceptance. Self-acceptance.
So again, I want the success that comes from self-acceptance, from authenticity, from vulnerability. I want actual connection. I want to feel. If an experience is painful, can I really lean into it even though it may be unbearable? If an experience is pleasurable, can I really savor it? Can I stay present to the moment and not stolen away by my mind?
Because external markers of success – money, status, recognition – are all meaningless without the ability to experience. To actually feel alive.
Anyway, I feel like I’ve gone off on a tangent! And I hope you feel alive. Or at least… I hope you feel life tapping you on the shoulder, whispering in your ear that,
“There’s more for you on the other side of your fear.”
With LOVE,
Q.
11:52 pm 😄