How to *Really* Be Yourself and Connect Better with Others

Being yourself is a sure-fire way of connecting better with others. The more comfortable you are with who you are, the more you own it... the more people will feel at ease around you.

It's only natural - you feel at ease with who you are, and others feel at ease around you as well.

The image I get is of a cheetah feeling at home with his spots. He may stand out with his wild spotted pattern, but to him, he's totally at home.

A big part of being yourself is knowing yourself and accepting both our strengths and weaknesses. There are things we do well, and things that we don't do so well. But those weaknesses can be strengths too, it's a matter of perception.

For example, I'm a big nerd at heart that likes working with numbers. I'm still the kid that loves Legos deep inside and has a passion for building things (I'm an engineer by profession). And rather than hold that against myself and think I lack in people skills, I choose to share my enthusiasm for both my work and pet projects I'm usually working on.

If life gives us lemons, we make lemonade... we can do this with perception about our personality traits, for better and for improvement. Most of how others see us is about self-perception. No one can make us feel small unless we first give them permission to.