Perception Is Reality
I don’t think that the question of authenticity online is the right question.
I think it’s a silly question.
Not quite sure yet what the REAL question is, but this battle about the authentic is the wrong battle.
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A lack of rehearsal and set dressing is not inauthentic. It’s lazy. There’s HUGE difference between authenticity and polish/professionalism.
Would it it inauthentic of me if I didn’t shower and brush my teeth before we met? Maybe that’s just how I roll, you know?
On the other hand, I’m not going to shave my beard off and wear a 3-piece suit.
Authenticity is like obscenity: hard to define, but we know it when we see it.
What if we reframe what authenticity means? Rather than stripped down to the bones; raw for the world to view, perhaps it could mean being genuine. Being genuine can be defined in as many ways as there are individuals.
Great topic for conversation. Something dear to my heart, honestly. Because I don’t feel that being authentic means not holding back, not being appropriate, not feeling comfortable, etc. I feel, rather, that authenticity is a self-regulating standard of living, loving and sharing. And we tend to share ourselves differently with different people for a whole slew of reasons. All the differences may be authentic for their time, place and situations.
Thoughts?
But there’s the rub: sometimes our different modes of sharing trip us up. We may get into a certain mode of being, a persona, in one situation, and not be able to shed it in another, and not even realize it.
We lose sight of the masks we wear. Sometimes we can peel them off easily, and sometimes we have to yank our Chick-Fil-A’s out and toss them across the room screaming in order to rediscover ourselves.
@Adam
Sure. But what I’m talking about isn’t masks. I know I’m wading into a deep pond here because ultimately it’s all masks. And what’s truly authentic for us is seldom easily recognizable.
But that’s my point. What’s authentic isn’t just what we are, naked without any protections. Rather, authenticity is also found in who we are in the moment; what’s real for how we’re feeling. If a situation makes us feel uncomfortable, for instance, we’ll react differently than to a situation where we’re at ease. But there’s authenticity – there’s truth – in how we react to either situation. And accepting how we respond – without needing ourselves to be different – is the first step to being truly authentic.
Wow. I’ve been trying to say something like this for a couple years, but I’ve never said it this well.