Solitude can unearth many selves in us. I think with increasing imposter syndrome affecting entrepreneurs, we need to go deeper into what makes us a beautiful contradiction.
I wrote in my ebook titled Your Brand Booster Manual: 8 Essentials to Personal Branding Success about how we should embrace our whole selves. We could be loud and quiet; assertive and passionately aggressive; connect and not belong (as mentioned in the book called ’The Gift of Not Belonging’ by Rami Kaminski’)- among many other ironic variations.
As founders and creators of our craft, we need to express the modulations of our emotions so that our audience understands our emotional undercurrents instead of seeing our binary version. In her book called ’The Mind Electric’ by Pria Anand, she talks about how our neurological symptoms can tell us something essential. That is, reveal universal truths about the human experience—from language, to perception, to consciousness. The Mind Electric is about the stories we tell about our brains, and the stories our brains tell us, to make sense of that gray area. This excerpt is beautifully captured in ‘The Book of The Day’ by The Next Big Idea Club.
This is because our personal brands thrive in the ‘gray’ matter of our brain and mindset – it evolves us into becoming more of who we naturally are.
So what is this ‘other’ self?
This other self is someone quietly reclusive, more emotional, a silent companion in your tough times, someone who goes inward to experience the chaos and calm at the same time.
When you are in business meetings, or taking and interview or closing a sales deal, try and be the most fundamental human. Chances are the people you meet will see the deeper person in you clothed with so many pleasantries and ‘not-wanting’ to smile when things feel overwhelming.
People want to connect with kind hearts and spirited beings – that is your true nature and ‘the other self’ that takes the front stage after melding with your whole self. Isn’t this a unique imprint you leave where you go?
You see, not embracing your other self causes emotional fatigue and physical exhaustion.
But when you are free to be who are meant to be in a given situation instead of conditions camouflaging your authentic innocence and wonder and enthusiasm, you feel light and peppy and incite more people to be themselves, too.
Now, put your one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly; inhale from your nose and exhale from your mouth and say, ‘I embrace the whole of me and love myself more with every passing day’.
The rest, as they say, keeps you alive and buoyant, as ever!
Photo by Giulia Bertelli on Unsplash
