Authenticity doesn’t only show up one way. It can show up differently and all of it can still be true. What matters it that the energy behind it is real. You can still perform while being authentic if you chose it and it lines up with the moment. The problem comes in when it turns into something demanded or expected and it’s no longer you choosing. It stops feeling alive and starts feeling heavy when you are instead pulled into a role you didn’t sign up for. And even if authenticity comes from us, it isn’t just based on us when we are in constant interplay with people, expectations, feelings, and environments. So authenticity might be less about just what we bring but the integration of what we bring with the environment we are participating in. If you are able to balance performance and presence, and integrate that with the factors of your situation/environment, then you can remain authentic in any situation where it doesn’t even matter if it was a performance, because it was you.
