Authenticity and the Girl Child

As a girl grows older she will hear the word authenticity.  In a nutshell, it means the qualities of being genuine or true to oneself. It may come from her mum, her dad, her aunty, her teacher and even her friends. They will say, “Be authentic”. “Be real and Be yourself”. The truth is, many older girls struggle to be authentic.  Hopefully the tips that I share will stop girls from falling into the trap of being fake.

Don’t Lie To Yourself

The worst habit a young girl can do is lie to herself. Once you start lying it becomes a habit. The lie becomes real because the more you keep lying the more you start believing it. There is nothing worth lying about anyway because sooner or later the truth will be revealed.

Don’t Lie To Others

Never make up stories about your identity and where you are from or other fake stories.  People’s memories are very sharp and when you start lying you will be caught out. I remember a young girl in one of my clubs who made up fantastic stories about all her travels. She was only 8. I knew she was lying and wondered why at 8 years old she was trying to impress others with such false stories.

Accept Yourself

As a girl becomes older she will become more self aware. She will know her strengths and her weaknesses. As she becomes stronger in confidence she will focus more on her strengths. She will not cover up who is or pretend to be somebody that she is not. That is the ideal. Unfortunately many grown up girls struggle to be real. They pretend to be what they are not. They wear a mask hoping that no one will notice the imposter.

Don’t Be Proud

An authentic girl doesn’t care about her ego. There are no signs of pride whatsoever.  What you see is transparency.  She doesn’t care if you can read her because she has got nothing to hide.  Even authentic people fall short every now and then because they are human. It is better to work on being true to oneself than being fake. A truly authentic girl is confident and free to be herself. What you see is what you get.

Spot a Fake

Let me tell a little secret to girls who read my blog. When you are being fake everybody notices. Most will just not say it to your face, so what’s the point?  I want girls to realise early that nobody is perfect. It is ok to have flaws. Just dont magnify them, be yourself. It must take a lot of work to be fake unless you are a seasoned actress but even then, is it really worth it?

To the girl child growing up in a society where there is so much pretense, I would say be your authentic self. The added bonus is that it is healthier.