The Journey of Self-Acceptance and Being Unapologetically You
- Rachelle Innocent
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
There’s an inner peace in being comfortable with who you are.
This is not to say that you feel like there aren’t things that you need to work on, or that you’re above reproach. You’re just not going to make any apologies for not being what others expected.
Being unapologetic, is not a disposition that comes without it’s fair share of growing pains. There's a journey that involves growth and its own fair share of teams before we learn that we have the choice to choose ourselves without being sorry about it.
We learn in friendships and relationships that the alternative route involves losing ourselves to maintain connections that were never ours to keep to begin with.
When we start to blur the lines between concessions, compromise and self-betrayal.
Too many people find themselves clinging to identities that leave them hidden behind a mask to keep the facade alive.
Why do we find ourselves clinging to connections that hurt? Or trying to make accommodations for people who we know would never reciprocate or do the same? Would we not be better off healing the wounds we carry rather than affirming them. Would we not find greater peace and alignment in choosing ourselves over the relationships and friendships that make us question ourselves?
Few of us are familiar with connections that heal, because we are too busy entertaining the connections that hurt, be it friendships, relationships or otherwise.
Rather than making room for the people, places, and situations that uplift us and support us, we find ourselves grappling to hold together connections that are destructive.
Know that walking in your truth requires no apology.
The only people who would dare to ask for one are those who benefit from you dimming your light and playing small. We often learn too late in life that there is no benefit to shrinking ourselves to fit someone else’s narrative,
The limited beliefs that people choose to hold do not need to limit our potential.
Rather than being met with the hurt and confusion that comes with seeking acceptance from people and places that are not for us, why not focus on the connections that do.
There are people who will hold space for all that you are.
There are those who appreciate you being authentically you.
And for those who don’t, who find themselves losing as you focus on your becoming… they will have to adjust, even in cases where they struggle to accept. Because they’re narrative does not define you, no matter how much they wish it did.
We are each the main character in our story. There’s no need to apologize for living life on our own terms and in a way that aligns with our highest selves.
Give people the permission to believe what they want to believe.
Unless they walk a mile in your shoes, they’re opinion on your life cannot be informed by lived experience. If lived experience is not driving the impressions and opinions that others have of you, if they otherwise aren’t being led by curiosity, openness and a willingness to learn, then who’s loss is it anyway?
Not yours.
Boundaries enable you to live life on your own terms, without infringing on the boundaries of others. They enable you to set the tone for how you want to be treated, and how people accountable to treat you in that way.
They give you permission to show up your whole self, and observe as people decide where they stand.
So choose yourself. Know that you will attract the kinds of relationships and friendships that both honour and hold space for you as well as that choice.
Playing small, was never a winner’s game.
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