How Authenticity and Vulnerability Pay Off and Help You Win Personally and Professionally

From your experience or perspective, what are some of the common barriers that hold someone back from being authentic and vulnerable?

What I’ve learned throughout life, but especially over the past few years, is that most people want so badly to be liked and accepted that they would rather go along with the crowd when it comes to opinions, style, and thoughts. With social media, if your opinion differs from most, you get attacked, degraded, shamed. It makes sense to take the easier way out, but to me, I could never. Being able to hold an opinion, to be able to take a stand and ask questions, to be able to present myself authentically without hiding behind a façade, now THAT is easier spiritually and morally. With social media and podcasts, and having good engagement and “likes,” it’s also easy to get caught up with what sells and gets the most views to help people feel fame, even in a small way. If your post gets 2 likes, it’s telling you that speaking or showing on that topic isn’t going to be as beneficial as another, which may not be the direction you’d ideally like to go in, but you do, because it feels good or it sells.