You may have noticed that lately I have been uploading videos onto YouTube as I've wanted to make them accessible to a wider audience. As part of this shift in how I share I've also been exploring how other YouTube creators show up and share their content.
It seems to me that often in life we are told that the only way to be 'valuable' is to show up and conform to predefined boxes. I remember at school going through a list of professions with my careers advisor and how none of the professions he shared felt right for me. The indication was, though, that unless you could squeeze yourself into one of these professions, you would somehow struggle.
I've definitely seen through this to some extent, and seeing some of the videos being made by other content creators it made me see even more clearly how so many people are thriving not by conforming to the socially recognisable job descriptions, but simply by being themselves.
As a follow on to my recent video series about living a Self validated life, it occurred to me that part of what stops us simply 'being ourselves' is the self talk that tells us that we can only be valuable if we squeeze ourselves into one of these boxes. But is this really true and does it stand up to scrutiny?
What if we could thrive by allowing more of our natural way of showing up rather than by trying to be something that we are not?
I share some thoughts and reflections in today's video and I hope you find it helpful.
With love, John x