Authentic: adjective. true to one’s own personality, spirit or character.

 

My father was a pure eccentric. The kind of guy who sold lingerie to aborigines in Australia. The kind of guy who wore the same khaki pants and white shirt with a pencil in his front pocket every single day. The kind of guy who traded a used car for a lifetime supply of nasal breathing strips. Seriously.

 

One day, a man happened upon my father’s used car lot. He needed a car. This man had just left his job at a company that made nasal breathing strips. In a final act of defiance, he left the company with thousands of these strips in the back of his car. Some might say it was bad kharma that subsequently caused his car to break down. 

 

During the same time period, my father had developed some respiratory problems and found that the placement of a small sticky strip on the bridge of his nose enabled him to breathe more freely. When the guy with the trunk full of nasal breathing strips showed up, my father saw the opportunity for both of them. This exchange changed the course of my father’s nose for the rest of his life. He wore those strips everyday…all day… even to my wedding. He literally died with one on. 

 

So what in the heck do nasal breathing strips have to do with anything? Good question. I’m getting there. 

 

Our world is going through a monumental societal shift. The era of “fake” seems to have spawned a new era of authenticity that, I personally believe, is a beautiful thing. After all, we have an innate need to be our authentic selves. When the self we present is incongruent with who we really are, it often creates imbalance in our lives. It is authenticity that allows us to draw forth the fullest expression of ourselves.

 

My father’s shortcomings could fill a novel, but one attribute he had was his authenticity. To the end, he was persistently his own person. He was authentic when it was not fashionable. It took me many years to appreciate my father’s eccentric nature. I desperately wanted for him to be “normal.” I have finally come to realize that his unique way of being in the world was actually one of his greatest qualities.

 

Some children are different from the start. They look different. They talk different. They think different. We do everything we can to make them fit. But perhaps they are not the ones who need to shift.

 

As we usher in a new year, let us seek out and honor authenticity in ourselves and others. Let us challenge the societal norms that are still stuck on creating cookie-cutter people. Let us disempower the comparative nature of standardized testing by refusing to put it on a pedestal. Let us refrain from signing our children up for an activity just because it is what everyone else is doing. Let us invite in awareness of our own tendency to acquiesce. Let us tolerate the discomfort that accompanies non-conformity. 

 

In 2018, may your authenticity shine bright and may you breathe freely!

 

Happy New Year!