Are You Living A HIghlight Reel?

Welcome to Episode 6 of Conversations at Sunrise! Today’s episode offers a refreshing exercise to help you dive deep into self-reflection and explore the delicate balance between how we see ourselves and others. Grab a piece of paper and join me as we uncover powerful insights about vulnerability, grace, and the importance of embracing your authentic self.

Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to see the good in others while being critical of yourself? We’ll explore why that happens and how practicing authenticity can open doors to a more fulfilled and genuine life. From navigating social media pressures to embracing vulnerability, this episode will leave you questioning: How authentic am I on a daily basis?

Tune in for an honest conversation and discover how showing up as your true self can transform your relationships, your energy, and your life. Can you take the challenge? Let's find out together.

You are enough—just the way you are.

Transcript

Lori Lee: 0:51

Hi, welcome back to episode six of Conversations at Sunrise. I hope this week finds you, finds you well. I hope you're having a good week. Um, I'm not sure which day you're watching this, but I am heading into the weekend. So excited about that. I wanted to do something a little bit different today. I wanted to, um, I'd like you to get a piece of paper. I'd like to do a We all know that words don't teach, experience is do. So I want to walk you through, um, I wanted to walk you through something. So pause me if you need to and go get yourself a piece of paper. All right. The first thing I'd like you to do is write down three things that you really like about yourself. Um, whether it's a physical attribute, a talent you have, um, you know, an emotional characteristic. Maybe you're a good listener, great hair, whatever it is. Just take 45 seconds and again pause me if you need to but write that down. Now what I'd like you to do is do the same thing only for your best friend. Write down three things that you think really makes your best friend shine. What is she really good at? What is she known for or he? Now, I'd like you to write a list of, um, three things that you don't like about yourself that you wish you could change, you could improve on, uh, be different, and then when you're done with that, just close out by doing the same exact thing for your friend. And what are three things that you feel he or she could improve on? Areas that Maybe they need a little work. And when you're done, what I want to ask you is, when you were writing down the three things that you really liked about yourself, how did you find that? Did you find it easy? Did you pause? Did you struggle? Did you second guess when you put things down in comparison to your friend? Was it a lot easier to Um, give her or him grace and, um, just write down things where you feel they shine. And then the same when you were writing down the things you wish you could improve on. Was that easier than writing down the three things that you liked about yourself? And did you hesitate when writing three things about your best friend for areas of improvement? And I ask, and really sit with these feelings for a minute, because I, I wanted you to experience how it feels, how we, we don't give ourselves enough grace and, and, you know, we're constantly berating ourselves. Why do we not feel worthy yet when it comes to our friends or our colleagues? Because, um, we're right there. Um, to say they're doing it right. They have, they have the right, you know, the right talents, the qualities where we don't. We're always putting ourselves down, even just the, the quiet talk in our heads, right? And I don't remember if it was the last episode, but I think I had talked about reframing, reframing things when they come out negative because there is so, so, so much negative self talk. Um, And I, you probably don't even realize how much you're doing it. So I just wanted you to experience that and again, sit with it for a minute and see how it feels. So again, one of the things that I think I wanted you to learn from this or experience from this exercise is how it feels to be vulnerable and how you feel towards others when they're vulnerable. And ask yourself that. When somebody comes to you and confides and is just themselves and is very vulnerable with you, do you push them away or do you embrace them? I would almost guarantee that you embrace them. So why can, can you not allow yourself to be vulnerable? And I think that's one of the biggest problems that we have today in, in our circle of influence, in society even, is there's very little authenticity, especially with social media. And I think that's a big problem, excuse me, I think that's a big problem when people get on social media and they compare themselves, they compare their real life to other people's highlight reels, right? And then that makes them feel worse about themselves. So why can't people be real? And if you look up the definition of authenticity. I think that's exactly what it says, is to be real, not to be false. So, you know, I think social media may have started out as a way to share and, to share the good points. Whether it's of somebody's life, their home, but we've taken it so much deeper, and we think that's their real life, when in fact it isn't. I can guarantee you it isn't. I don't care who you are. It just isn't. Nobody's life is perfect. And I think the more authentic you can be, and the more vulnerable you can be, that gives you an edge over others. And I even saw, it wasn't recent, but maybe a few months back, there was this, I don't know if it was a challenge, I am not on TikTok at all, but there was some type of challenge going on in TikTok that I think may have. Um, overflowed into YouTube and that was supposedly being authentic on camera where they would force themselves to cry, literally force themselves to cry. And I guess that was showing their vulnerability. But was it? I mean, seriously, they were forcing themselves to cry and in some of the clips I saw, they're actually making their children cry. And that was all for views, but it wasn't real. So So why can't we be authentic? I think most people have a, make a choice every day whether to be authentic or to belong. And I think most people want to belong because I think they feel, including myself, I think that we feel if we show who we really are and say what we really think and what we really feel, that We won't be liked. And I think this is something that I learned back in high school even that I was never part of the popular crowd in high school ever. Middle School, anything. Um, my friend group was limited and I definitely, um, early in high school was bullied. Though, I do remember one instance that, and I don't know if I've shared this, so I apologize if I have shared it, but in one instance where this girl wanted to beat me up, and I think it was a freshman in high school, and so I was forced, I don't even remember where we were supposed to meet, but I was forced to meet her there, and it was over something stupid, I don't even remember the details, other than the guy that she liked. Just looked at me the wrong way, so she was going to beat me up. And, isn't that so silly? Oh my goodness. Anyways, um, But what I do remember from that confrontation is she did not beat me up. I actually talked my way out of it, um, and we became friends. Now, I certainly don't remember what I said, but I do remember the outcome was that, uh, she just, uh, she said she was wrong. So I wish I could remember the exact details, but it doesn't really matter. I guess the moral to the story is just be true to yourself. Do not feel that you have to. To be unauthentic or to be somebody you're not just to belong. And we do it all the time, right? Maybe your husband will ask you, Hey, do you want to go get a drink? And instead of just saying, No, really, I'd rather just stay home, watch a movie. You're like, yeah, sure. Or, well, we know definitely in the political space, most people won't say what they think or feel for the fear of being berated. That's good. And, I would push back and say, if we can't, if we can't be ourselves and talk about our differences, then you know what, we're going to be right where we are in this society. But anyways, I'm going down a rabbit hole, I don't mean to go down. But going back to being authentic or the sense of belonging, if you can be authentic, that's more of. A skill, and maybe that's something we all need to learn, is how to be authentic. Maybe it takes practice. Maybe just one, one small choice every day where you speak, you speak how you really feel versus just saying what you think somebody wants to hear. So I think we need to learn, maybe I should say we need to unlearn so many things we've learned. I think we need to learn how to be our real selves and I think that if we can be our real selves, whether it's in a conversation, at work, with our family, our colleagues, our friends, I think That would open up the door to allow them to be their real self. And I think by not being authentic so that you had a sense of belonging, I feel that's what causes a lot of this depression that we see in the world, a lot of this sadness. And I would certainly say when, when people are authentic. and real to themselves and true to themselves. I think that that's, that's what helps them be successful. So try it. Try one, one, one choice, one decision a day, when asked to do something or you're about to go do something, ask yourself, is that for you or is that for somebody else? Because again, if we're, Only doing things to be part of the in crowd, then we're lying to ourselves. And that isn't good for anybody, especially yourself. So, I participated in a master class earlier this week, and they talked about authenticity. And I know most folks are, are familiar with the Law of Attraction, though this did not talk about the Law of Attraction, it talked about the Law of Reception. And one of the things she talked about was when you are your real self, your authentic self, it actually opens up your energy pathways, and you tune into. What you are looking for in life and everything you're looking for in life is already out there And when you are true to yourself, it actually you can receive what you've been looking for And it really it really struck me because just by being Myself just by you being yourself you can attract and receive the life that you're looking for Isn't it worth a try? I mean be honest with yourself on a scale from 1 to 10. How authentic are you on a daily basis? I understand there may be scenarios where we all have to act a certain way, but it certainly doesn't have to be every minute of every day. I think we need to learn how to be more authentic than we're not. And that's with our spouses, our children. I think that's a great teaching, teaching moment is to teach our kids to be, to be true to themselves while also teaching them responsibility. That's another whole topic. One of the other things she talked about is a lot of times content will go viral when people are being authentic because people that are watching it, they feel seen. They feel seen, they feel heard, they feel like they can relate to that. They, it's hard for people to relate to the perfect life, right? Because nobody's life is perfect. But when you're real and you're showing the good parts, the bad parts, the not so great parts, people like that. I can relate to that. I see that. They see themselves in you and that's what will make something go viral. She was talking about and she also commented on one of her mentors how they used to tell her, you know, have a cup of coffee in the morning and when you do invite all the parts of yourself to have coffee with you, invite the sad part, the happy part, the excited part, the scared part, the fearful part, and recognize them all. I'd like to have a call to action this week. I'd like to challenge you to identify on a daily basis when you're being real, authentic, and when maybe you're responding in such a way so that you can belong. And I think you'll realize that the more authentic you can be, the more real you can be, that allows other people. to also be themselves. And I think that's what most people are looking for when, I mean, do you have a friend? Do you have somebody that you just enjoy being around? Because when you're around them, you feel you can be yourself. They allow you to be yourself. It's draining to be somebody else. It really, really is. And, you know, most of, I won't say most of my life, a good portion of my life, especially. in my younger years, in my high school years, in my young adult life, maybe even as a new mom, I always tried to put on a persona, to put on something that I was not. I was so afraid of people finding out who I really was. Really, I was so afraid of that. And, you know, I'll share that with some friends and they, I was always so afraid to share who I really was. And now, I actually, I, I love who I am. I love everything about me. I love where I came from. I love the obstacles that I've gotten over. I love being a statistic, and I'll talk about that in another episode. There is just, I love who I am and I love who I am because if I had to use one word to sum me up, it is resilient. With everything I've had to overcome, bar none, I am resilient. And it's with that that I can truly, truly, truly help somebody else. And I've shared this probably every episode that to me. that is more important to me to turn around and help someone and guide someone to show them who they are, to show them what they offer, to show them how important they are. That means more to me than anything and it is worth everything I have gone through. And I just recently told one of my daughters this because She was struggling with something and I told her to, first of all, I, I know I've shared in the past that we all go through something and there's a, there's a lesson in everything we go through. And we also need to be grateful for everything we go through. And I do believe this is silver lining. And I told her that the other day. And I said, as hard as this is right now, look for that silver lining. there is something. And she got a renewed sense of energy and I'm just thrilled that, you know, I can help my children. I can help my grandchildren. I hope that, you know, I can help more. But again, just by helping them get through this world. And to help them recognize and discover who they are and their gifts. Everything I have gone through is worth it. Tenfold. And that is my, that is my whole purpose today. My whole passion is to have everybody realize how important they are. And what they bring to this world. Okay, I'm going off on a tangent. Sorry about that. So, I challenge you this week, I challenge you to be as authentic as possible. I'd love to hear about it in the comments. I'd love for this to be a two way conversation. And if there's anything I can do for anybody, please either send me a DM, please leave a, leave a comment on how I can reach you, but I promise, and I say this in every episode, you're worth it. You are more than enough just the way you are, and you are the hero of your own story. You have everything you need inside yourself to shine. I love you guys, and until our next conversation at sunrise.