You can let go of the rules you think you’re breaking
You can honor your values first
You can rest
You can laugh
You can let yourself cry in someone else’s arms
You can leave if you don’t feel like being there
You can put your foot down
You can sing the same song 10 times in one day
You can do whatever it takes to feel nourished
You can give up
You can take a break
You can let someone down
You can let yourself down
You can hold space for courage
You can cast a sacred spell around your biggest dream
You can reveal your cleavage
You can wear crazy boots
You can let your leg hair grow
You can stop to pick the flowers
You can be opinionated
You can be shameless
You can curse
You can apologize
You can learn to trust again
You can heal your aching heart
You can make art
You can talk kindly with strangers
You can make out with strangers
You can write love letters
You can pray
You can insist on entire days alone
You can jump in the river naked
You can accomplish impossible tasks
You can look honestly at your sex life
You can ask for more
You can give more
You can give it all away
You can leave it all behind
You can leap without knowing where you’ll land
You can forgive
You can say “no more”
You can invite magic in
You can star gaze
You can free yourself
You can dance with children
You can skip the meeting
You can raise your prices
You can admit that you were wrong
You can ask for an apology
You can play
You can take a really long bath every single day
You can let yourself fall in love
You can be vulnerable
You can ask for help
You can insist on brilliance
You can be risky or sage or tired or ecstatic or uncool or irresistible or wholesome
You can do or be anything you want really
I say, start where it feels like you’re holding yourself in
I say, let your true self out
Feel like you’re not yourself? I know the feeling. I want to help. And I love this community so much that I’m offering a free package of 3 hour long coaching sessions in the month of June to 1 reader whose answer to this question I’m most called to:
Who do you become when you let your true self out?
Leave your answer in the comments below, along with your email address, by 10 am ET Friday, June 10 and I’ll email you personally the next day if we’re meant to be.
Holding each of your true selves with such tenderness. Hoping you know that you can be seen to the core and loved to the core exactly as you are. It’s true. I feel blessed for the chance at a glimpse into your sweet soul.
Relaxed, confident, and true
a dancer! an artist. a writer! xx
When I let my true self out, I’m the woman I always dreamed of being. Beautiful, confident, creative, and full of joy.
When I let my true self out? I’m loud! I’m bold, and I swear, and I’m utterly joyful. I don’t feel guilty about living life on my terms, and I trust myself and my decisions.
When I let my true self out, I radiate. My eyes shine bright. When I walk it’s a dance. When I speak it’s a song. When I smile at you, it’s a kiss. I am free. I am strong. I am an artist in every sense of the word. But most of all, I become *me*. And that’s who I want to be.
Thank you for giving this gift Rachael.
When I let my true self out.
I feel invigorated,
elated,
HAPPY,
aligned,
authentic,
PURE,
True to myself,
exuberant,
and i know that feeling of not feeling my true self. those moments of self depreciation and worry and doubt… i think i prefer the opportunity to LET my true self out!
My true self feels so hidden sometimes, she takes such gentle coaxing to come out, and there are days it feels like I’ll never know her. But a small smile and twinkle in the eye, the space to emerge and there she is, laughing aloud and clapping her hands at the simplest things in life (a cup of coffee, a sunrise, a particularly rockin song). She loves to learn and approaches life with curiosity, knowing there is nothing out there but possibility, and there is so much, so much, SO MUCH to discover and create. She can’t wait for more, even though there will be days where giving up and giving in seems worth it. But she pushes on, and asks Why not? instead of Why me? and knows that somehow, somehow the closer she gets to her true self, the closer life can be.
oh Thank You! Thank you! This post has found me at exactly the moment I needed it most.
Honestly – I think I become my 4yr old self. A person who loves unconditionally, who throws herself into all she does with complete abandon, who can’t imagine anyone not loving her for who she is and who lets the soft animal of her body love what it loves. My kindergarten teacher once told my mum that they’d decided to assign me to the class in the butterfly room because it suited me perfectly because all of the teachers thought of me as a butterfly.
I think my true self is a 4yr old girl who believes she is a butterfly.
Amy
xx
Terrified. I become terrified.
When I let my true self come out, I am vulnerable. I am open to both exquisite joy and unbearable pain. But I am radiant, too. Just scared of my own power, and not sure what the heck to *do* with it. What *is* my gift? How am I supposed to be serving the world?
When I let my true self out I talk to birds and horses, gaze into the eyes of babies and make wild art for no particular reason.
When I let my true self out I’m connected and free. I smile the sun, give thanks to the wilderness and let it be okay, truly okay, to be me: often quiet, sometimes confused, but alive, happy and full of energy.
My true self emerges at the beach, where I become a wild, free, bare-foot, salt-soaked, dreadlocked, surfer-hippie-chick. Mmm-hmm!
Well, isn’t this the Best Question and the Best Post EVER! My answer? I am – at least I think I am – on the very verge of letting my true self out, and I think my T.S. is fiercely brave and reasonably kind and boldly sure and perhaps even wickedly creative.
ME.%100 ME. Wholesome, awesome, totally ME. That is who I become when I am true to myself, and allow her to SHINE.
That is a very thought provoking question.
Who DO I become…
When i let go i become the wonderful person that i am but with a true vulnerable side to me.
When i let go i become the wonderful person i am but am the worlds greatest artist even if only in my eyes.
When i let go i become the wonderful person i am but i can sing and dance and play and laugh like no one’s watching and if they are it is okay.
When i let go i become the wonderful person i am.. ME!
[...] You Can Let Your True Self Out [...]
Into the woman I am sometimes so scared to become…
Thank you for reminding me that I can give myself permission to do and be all of these things … and more.
My true self is me, version 2.0 – the girl who dances with her eyes closed and a smile on her face. Less aware of other people’s gazes. More aware of my body and it’s rhythm. Softer. Curvier. Smoothed out edges with a larger capacity to love and be loved.
I become free. Finally free.
would love to win,
bonitarose
bonnieangel1797@gmail.com
When I am able to let my true self out, I become the person I was born to be. Beautiful, authentic, completely lovable, and totally human. It’s scary and hard to let go of perceived expectations and just be me, but when I am able to – I love who I am even more.
Innocent, vunerable & whole
[...] was my response to Rachael Maddox‘s question on Roots of She: Who do you become when you let your true self out? And my answer surprised [...]
my true self is buzzing with creative energy and love. My true self does not hold back. My true self is open to the great force that connects all living things and has the power to spread hope, love and truth. My true self is mirrored in the eyes of your true self, in all of us!
I actually don’t know…I’m TERRIFIED of opening up…even to my husband. People said I was outgoing and spontaneous … in high school. Since then I feel I have clammed up, I honestly wish I could say I was the REAL me 100% of the time, but I feel the real me is mean, selfish and an angry person. I could use the help, I’m not depressed, sad even I just feel stuck. :/
~Ali
My true self is more than unafraid of her body and it’s curves, I embrace it. My true self becomes more engaged with others and the world because I’m attuned to my heart’s desires. Expressive, relaxed, joyful.
[...] want to print this list out and recite it every single [...]
[...] Here’s the first one: You can let your true self out by Rachael Maddox [...]
When i let my true self out….I become wild. I become the woman that I dream of being. I am confident and i am strong. I dance. I scream. I laugh. Joy bubbles up inside me and I am at peace.
[...] let your true self out, [...]
[...] You can let your true self out. [...]
Haven’t felt or seen my true self in along time,I really miss her and wish I knew how to get her back.I left her behind 25 years ago.I just want me,who I was back then to come in my soul.
My true self? If I had hours/days/years I’m not sure I could define her. I’m not sure she still exists, under all these years of being ignored … by me. She is a captive wanderer. Truly she is suffocating and thrashing in her attempt to find release, but no one would ever know … the NOT true self has quite a talent for living and creating “peace”. But … Hello … are you there?
When I let my true self out …
There is an all-encompassing warmth, to everything around me. There is no ‘time’, just being. There is no inner conflict, no anxiety or self hate, fear or hesitation. I feel connected with rays of light, sparkling eyes, irrepresible smile, and the cells of my body are saying ‘yes’ to … the flow of everything!
There are still 1 or 2 issues left I feel I’ve been carrying since I was a little girl, before I can let my inner self fully out; I have the desire to but need the tools to chip off these layers I’ve built around me… and the courage to let go of these attachments. I dream of a world where we’re all living true to our authentic selves and voices
Thanks for your beautiful blog xx