Lachlan Brown
All of us have highs and lows on a daily and weekly basis.
But a deeper sense of inner happiness and the way your life is going is a lot different.
Even when the road gets rough you feel a sense of fulfillment and purpose in your life.
So, how can you separate the peaks and valleys of life from the true signs you’re happy with yourself and your life on a deeper level?
Let’s take a look.
Here are 10 signs that you are leading a life that is true to yourself:
1) You Feel a Sense of Belonging and Acceptance
Inner peace can be hard to find.
But once you discover a sense of belonging and acceptance of yourself, the outer world tends to follow suit.
You notice those around you who you can feel comfortable and challenged by. You’re drawn to people who you can work together with and collaborate with.
One of the top signs you’re leading a life that is true to yourself is that you’re happier with other people.
The annoying ones don’t bother you quite as much, and people you used to find boring now seem not so bad, or even unique in certain ways.
You begin to prioritize relationships: romantic, friendship, and professional.
As blogger Sinem Günel puts it:
“Once a baseline of income is met, our happiness varies more based on the quality of our relationships than our income.
“That’s partly due to a phenomenon called belongingness hypothesis, which states that we have a fundamental need to feel connected to other humans.
“From an evolutionary perspective, belonging to a group of people was not a nice-to-have but essential for survival.”
2) Your Intuition Speaks Clearly To You
Intuition is that inner voice that guides you through decisions and uncertainty.
When you have a strong link to your intuition it’s reassuring and clarifying.
You avoid jobs you would hate and stay out of relationships that would move your life backwards.
You’re drawn to where you’re supposed to be and have an intuitive grasp of what to do in life.
“Listening to your intuition helps you avoid unhealthy relationships and situations.
“Throughout your life, many people will have ideas about what’s best for you, some held with good intentions and some coming from a place of deceitful, harmful, selfish intent.
“It’s sometimes hard to tell which category someone falls into, but if you put aside all of those external opinions and instead listen to the advice of your own intuition, it will guide you to what is truly best for you.”
This intuitive connection is one of the strongest signs you’re leading a life that is true to yourself.
Because you know what you really want and don’t want. That’s more than many of us!
3) You Can Leave the Past in the Past
There are many different ways to find inner peace and become happy with yourself.
But all of them, to some degree, requires making peace with the past.
You may have a difficult past that’s hard to move on from, but you’ve found a way to let the pain be what it is and live your life anyway.
That strength and forward momentum makes you strong and fuels the inner sense of contentment and joy that you bring to life.
The past is hard for everyone, but it doesn’t have to dominate.
The shadow of the past doesn’t loom as large for you as it does for some people, because you’ve left it in the past.
You focus on what you love to do and don’t let the past overshadow you.
As health writer and yoga instructor Carrie Madormo writes:
“When you’re not consumed with worrying about what others think of you, you have a lot more time for the things that matter to you. Happy people use that time to pursue the activities they love.”
4) You’re Not a People Pleaser Anymore
One of the strongest signs you are leading a life that is true to yourself is that you’re not a people pleaser.
You don’t trim yourself to fit the world or do what others think is the best course of action.
You are helpful and present for folks who need a hand, but you’re totally uninterested in being a doormat or a third wheel to other people’s lives.
You’ve seized your own inner power and confidence and everyone around you can tell. While you’re as polite as you can be, you don’t mince words if people try to manipulate you or step on you.
You just ain’t got time for that.
If people love you, great. If they hate you, their loss.
If you commit to something you do your best to do it. If you need to cancel an appointment or date you do it.
As Amy Morin writes:
“Whether you say yes and then actually follow through, or you later fake an illness to get out your commitments, you’ll never reach your goals if you can’t speak up for yourself.”
5) You Don’t Care What Other People Think
You are secure in who you are and your foundational values. You certainly care what others think, feel and say.
But you don’t let it determine your underlying position or sway you on something you’re sure about.
You’re guided by a mission, core values, and trust in your own perceptions and ideas. The observations and opinions of others are interesting, sure, but they’re not in the driver’s seat.
You are know you’re leading a life that is true to yourself when your self-worth is rock-solid and built on your own self-assessment, not the judgments of others.
6) You Don’t Disrespect Others
If you’re leading a life that is true to yourself, then you stick to your principles and what’s morally right. You uphold strong values and maintain your dignity.
If someone doesn’t have insecurities or a broken ego, then one value that is paramount to them is treating others with kindness and respect.
They understand that everybody goes through sh*t in life, and that they’re in no place to judge.
However, if even though you uphold your strict moral system, you also won’t hesitate to let others know to get back in their lane if they disrespect you.
7) You Know How To Say No
If you understand yourself and don’t bother much with pleasing people, then you also know your boundaries.
You’re not afraid to decline other people for the sake of keeping your environment healthy or fulfilling your own needs.
Most people suffer through overworked schedules and get hung up on helping others before themselves, and that leads to a great deal of unhappiness and excessive responsibility.
But if you’re leading a life that is true to yourself, then you understand your limitations. You can’t help everyone even if you wanted to.
The best thing about knowing your limitations is that you don’t let anyone down, and people can always trust that you’ll do what you say.
8) You Want Meaningful Conversations
You’re not a fan of small talk and you value productivity.
Although you can also have fun, you prefer conversations that have depth because you care about getting to know a person on a deeper level.
There’s also so much you can learn and enrich your life with through meaningful conversations.
This is why you stay away from small talk. For you, it only serves to reinforce the robotic robots that most people have become.
You want to know more than how someone is doing. You want them to be honest, to express themselves, and not care about other people judging them.
You want to know the purpose behind someone’s actions and why they wake up in the morning. These are the kinds of conversations that get your juices flowing.
9) You Let Your Emotions Come as They Are
Many people fight against their emotions because they don’t want to feel the full spectrum of emotions that come with being human.
But if you want to be human, you need to let those emotions come as they are and not fight against them.
Experiencing emotions allows you to have the fullest human experience and it feeds your soul.
If you find yourself feeling all the feels all the time, it’s likely that you have a deep soul and you’re leading a life that is true to yourself.
10) You’re Not Dependent on Others For Happiness or Love
Nobody is “always happy.”
Being happy with yourself is not the same as a good mood or temporary state of euphoria.
It’s an underlying baseline of wellbeing that lasts through the ups and downs. It’s waking up and being more or less glad you’re alive! It’s being single and being happy anyway.
It’s being in a relationship and appreciating it despite its faults and your partner’s frustrating imperfections.
You aren’t trying to prove anything, you’re just happy to be you and live your life.
Deep down you appreciate companionship and love, but you’re also truly OK with doing your own thing and being alone.
This draws people to you and gives you a real sense of inner contentment.
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