DON’T FAKE IT… FACE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT

It’s understandable why people advise us to “fake it till we make it.” However, in this world of superficial emphasis, can we really be comfortable draping in even more of it?

How many of us have applied to a job where we have no experience at all in the field, yet encouraged to fake our experiences, habits and personality? You’re not alone. I’m sure all of us have received or encountered this kind of advice before. When people give us this advice, it is usually from a place of encouragement, and the intention is to give us a push towards whatever new uncertainty is challenging us.

While the intentions are positive, the message places a constraint to our character. Some of us are lucky enough to avoid this kind of constraint that leads to unhappiness simply by becoming more authentic with the world. These lucky people learn that fulfillment awaits behind authenticity. However, many of us aren’t fortunate enough to learn this, and so we find ourselves in a continuous loop of dreaded routines, questioning why we can’t do the things we would like to do. Perhaps because by “faking it” just so that we can “make it”, we never learned how to be our true selves and know what we are truly capable of doing. We embodied a different persona that was designed to “make it” -a template that doesn’t care whether or not we have other goals or desires.

If the character designed to “make it” is the character we truly are and want to grow, by all means continue to do so, especially because it speaks to our authenticity. But if we find ourselves having to force a smile that builds passive aggression or moodiness throughout our day, it’s most likely because the demand for inauthentic behavior to fulfill our job doesn’t allow us to make room for personal growth. Hence, the character is static, not dynamic.

Even though role-playing is a key tool that assists us in achieving our goals, it must not be a limiting factor to our own competence. In other words, we must not be “someone else” to go through the challenges up ahead. We must actually be ourselves, and FACE the challenges up ahead in order to grow (with or without the tools we have).

Why face it till we make it?

When we face problems, we allow ourselves to have more opportunities to know what it feels like to be solution-oriented. Instead of relying on a scripted structure for all of the answers, we step out of that comfort zone and start looking for answers with the help of our other inner strengths and resourcefulness. We go on to experience physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual growth by embedding the experiences in the autonomy of our character, not in the static template designed to “make it” (whatever that may mean to some of us).

The next time we find ourselves with a challenge up ahead, we must really ask ourselves if we would like to learn from it or yearn from it. FACE it and make it a truly memorable learning and empowering experience? or fake it and make it an experience that leaves us yearning from an unsatisfied and disempowered position in our lives.?

🔴 Be Empowered, my friends.