Quote on loving and being yourself, plus my commentary

"Few young people really appreciate that by being open about who you really are, you end up wasting much less time on relationships that are doomed from the start. In the long run, it's much more efficient to fess up about who you are and what you're really into from the get-go."- Christopher Ryan

This is, of course, practical advice. I quoted this in my journal years ago because it makes sense to me, it is a policy I have had for a long while.

What I think a lot of people don't see is that this is a way of loving yourself. Giving yourself the gift of self-acceptance and authentic relationships. I would rather be up front about who I am and let the chips fall where they may, than pretend to be someone I am not, in order to be loved. Because the love you receive that way is a false love. If someone loves the person you are pretending to be, they don't really love YOU. I don't want to spend my life afraid that someone will stop loving me if they know my true self.

𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩. 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐧. 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐝𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.