Wonderful. All was in order.

Until they phoned back and said they had a little problem. While they really liked me, what I had to offer, my website……they came to this Facebook page and were a little uncomfortable with the content. Swearing, speaking honestly, speaking unfavourably against McDonalds (a major client of their’s) – all big no no’s. They’re lovely people and were very gracious about it, but made it clear that there was a choice to be made – continue publishing freely or edit my content to be corporate friendly.

Initially I figured I’d have to go away and think long and hard about what to do, I mean, this is my work, this is how I pay bills, and the prospect of being able to more of what I love all added up to a compelling reason to just edit myself and iron out the rough edges to fit myself into the mould they wanted.

But as we continued to speak, my heart found its voice and roared at me that in no uncertain terms should I abandon it, should I abandon the truth of who I am. My rough edges are what make me who I am and I ain’t polishing them for nobody. And no amount of money will ever make me sacrifice my integrity.

So I thanked them genuinely and wished them well, but agreed that unless I could stay in alignment with absolute authenticity, the fit just wasn’t going to be right.

I’ve spent too much of my life changing the shape of who I am to fit into what those around would like, and it never ends well. It’s damaging, it’s exhausting, it’s bullshit. The world will constantly tell us who to be and it’s our job time and time again to decline the invitation to fit in and instead show up in the fullness of who we really are.

None of us will be everyone’s cup of tea, we’re not supposed to be, that’s not the point. But when we are real, the people, the situations, the opportunities we are supposed to connect with will show up.

No more fitting in.

No more changing our shape to fit a mould.

No more rewriting the truth of who we are to fit into someone else’s story.