In a world where it’s so easy to be influenced by the people and things happening around you, it’s often challenging to be true to yourself and stay firm in your beliefs and values.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it really means to be true to who you are…staying true to your personality, your voice, your brand, your goals and your dreams.

Staying true to yourself isn’t always easy, but it is always worth it. (Like this idea? Tweet it!)

It’s not easy. There are naysayers, people who may try to knock you down and those who simply won’t understand your journey. That’s okay. This is where you have to dig deep to find that inner peace and calm within yourself to be confident in your decisions and path. This is where you discover what it really means to be true to who you are.

Staying True To Yourself

Staying true to yourself means being unapologetic (as my friend Stephany so beautifully wrote on her blog). It means embracing all of your qualities, both the positive ones AND your flaws. To me, it means accepting who you are, understanding what you bring to the table and going for what you want.

It especially means staying the course, even when others may not understand. It means loving your decisions, even if others don’t like them. It means saying no to opportunities or experiences that don’t align with your goals or interests. It means choosing to pursue happiness above all else.

Easier said than done, but this is certainly a level of comfort and peace within yourself to constantly work and strive toward. Personally, I struggled with this for many years, but when I started this blog and made the decision to Get Gutsy, I slowly found myself absolutely loving who I am, what I stand for and where I’m going. Every day isn’t perfect, but every day I work myself a little bit closer to that inner peace and comfort.

Staying True To Your Brand

In addition to being true to myself, I’m also working hard to stay true to the Get Gutsy brand. Sometimes that means declining tempting opportunities because they don’t mesh with the brand we’ve built together over time.

For example, I was recently invited by a major car manufacturer to test drive one of their new cars for the week and take advantage of an overnight stay at a hotel and VIP day at a local amusement park. Was my first instinct to reply, “Hell yes!” Absolutely. But as I thought about how I might cover the experience on my blog, I realized this opportunity, however fun and awesome it may be, had nothing to do with my blog and wouldn’t provide value to my community in any way. I declined, explaining to the PR person who reached out that it would feel inauthentic to accept an opportunity that didn’t align with my brand.

Those decisions aren’t easy to make, but your audience and community will respect you more if you stay authentic. That’s my ultimate goal here. Complete authenticity and transparency.

Staying True To Your Voice

Staying true to yourself means owning your voice. I read a lot of blogs and am always impressed by the writing style and personalities behind many of the bloggers I read. So many of them have unique voices.

For example, Amy Schmittauer is hilarious, a little bit in-your-face in a really good way and super useful when it comes to sharing tips and ideas. Derek Halpern’s style is brash and can sometimes come across as condescending, but it works and I respect him and like reading him because I know there will be no BS when I come to his site. Pat Flynn is extremely gracious and kind and it comes across in every piece of content he puts out for his community.

I love each of these voices and sometimes find myself trying to emulate them and the voices of other blogs that I read, but then I remember, that’s not who I am. I have my own unique voice that the community has come to enjoy and THAT’S what keeps them coming back.

Staying True To Your Dreams

You know those big, scary dreams that simultaneously thrill you and keep you up at night? Hold onto them.

Keep working toward those goals and don’t let anyone else tell you that you can’t do something. I once thought it would be impossible to have a full-time career in PR, but also run a side business, as well as an extremely active blog. This balance seemed especially precarious and out of reach, but with determination and a belief in who I am, I’ve been able to make it work.

This is perhaps the hardest thing of all; staying true to your dreams when you see so many obstacles up ahead or don’t have a clear picture of where you’re going. Keep pushing forward, tapping into that inner confidence, drive and belief that anything is possible.

What does it mean to you to stay true to who you are? Let me know in the comments below.

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