something I've battled with for as long as I can remember is the need to hide behind a mask. the need to present myself as perfect in order to be accepted & loved by society. but all it did was push people further away because it's so obvious when someone isn't being authentic.⁠

people around me couldn't connect with me because I wasn't even being me. I wasn't even connected to myself.

once you finally make the decision to look within at who you are and who you want to be, you drop the mask and begin to embrace each aspect of yourself that you find.

even though self discovery can be a life long process, it allows you to not only open up to yourself, within yourself, but to also open up to the outside world too and with less fear of what the outside world has to say about you.