Breaking Free: The Path to Self-Acceptance After Denying Your True Self

A life well lived is ultimately a journey of self-acceptance.

When we’re kids, something happens, or someone says something (often in passing and without thought) that “proves” we’re not safe being who we are.

We’re “wrong” and desperately need to be “right.”

So, we seek clues in our environment and modify our behavior to what we believe will award us the acceptance we desire.

We structure our lives on a blueprint that’s not our own, living behind masks that deny our true selves and chasing acceptance externally.

This works until it doesn’t.

Eventually, we have to pay the price for denying who we are.

This usually takes the form of a mid-life crisis.

Chasing acceptance externally no longer works; if we want to live differently in our second half, we must behave differently.

We have to stop chasing acceptance from others and instead create self-acceptance.

The surest path to self-acceptance I know from rebuilding and reinventing my life from scratch after federal prison?

Connecting deeply with yourself, doing what you’re uniquely designed to do, and sharing it with the…