always be the real you my readers

Your affection for others can cause you to turn yourself into a stranger.

They like your hair straight, so you straighten it. They think your genuine laugh is too obnoxious, so you tone it down at dinners and parties. They think you’re too much of a softie, so you hide your tears when they say something negative about you and pretend to have thicker skin than what’s really there. Before you know it, you’ve altered so much of yourself that you don’t even know who the hell you are anymore.

Take a stand. Whoever ‘they’ may be to you, be aware of how much you’re compromising for them. If you can no longer breathe the same way around them, it’s time to show them the door.