Not every room deserves your best performance.
Somewhere along the way, many of us became professional auditioners.
“Let me prove I’m good enough.”
“Let me prove I’m useful.”
“Let me prove I’m interesting.”
“Let me prove I’m easy to love.”
“Let me just casually become a completely different person so everyone is comfortable.” 😂
Enough.
Choose places where you are valued, not places where you have to audition for your worth.
Choose relationships where you can be yourself, not where you need a personality upgrade every time you walk through the door.
The right people don’t require you to perform for belonging.
They don’t need the polished version.
The agreeable version.
The endlessly available version.
The “I’m totally fine!” version.
They can handle you.
Your opinions.
Your weirdness.
Your boundaries.
Your silence.
Your joy.
Your “no.”
Even your occasional “What the hell am I doing?” moments. 😅
Your relationships should not require a costume.
Choose the people around whom you can take it off.
And maybe the question isn’t: “How can I make them value me?”
Maybe it’s: “Can I actually be me here?”
Because if you have to constantly shrink, impress, explain, prove, perform and shape-shift just to belong... Honey, that’s not belonging. That’s unpaid theatre. 🎭
Choose better rooms.
Choose real relationships.
Choose places where your nervous system can finally stop doing a background check every five minutes.
And most importantly: Choose yourself. ❤️