Aloud: How To Be You - The Sweetest Parts

Hi, guys. Good morning. It's Shannon from aloud. It is 09:03 on a Thursday morning, and I am here to talk today. I've got a single message, and we are talking today about how to be you. But today, the coolest thing, we'll be talking about the coolest part of being you, which are the sweet things that come as a result of it. So for those of you who don't know me, I'm Shannon. I am not a therapist. I am a person who has been in therapy for seven and a half years. I have trauma. I parent a child with special needs, and I have anxiety.

And I have spent the last, you'll see the last series of lives. This week, I talked a lot about how I, in the course of my therapy, I learned how to be me. I'm still doing it. I'm still practicing. But today I want to talk about one thing, and that is how it feels when you are you. So if we're doing things that are incongruent with our body, if we're showing up in ways we're going to parties with people that aren't our people, if we're spending time in events or parts of our life that aren't really who we are in our core, we feel it in our bodies, right?

And so you all know this. If you've had to do something, if you've had to go to something that you don't really want to be at, you're tired, right? You can feel it in your body and that it might be heavy in your stomach, it might be that you, excuse me, dread it for the weeks coming up. Hi, Luke. Good morning. It might be that when you're there, all you think about is leaving. And so it's hard for you to engage with the people in the moments. But whatever it is, you feel it in your body, right? So when you start to be you and when you start to do the things I've talked about in the last few days and really paying attention to who you are, surrounding yourself with the people who are in alignment with you as a human, how you feel in the years ahead of you, all the moments that are ahead of you in your life will become full of promise.

So I'm 47. For 40 years, I did not live in alignment with myself. And I can tell you that the life that I have in me now, since I am behaving in the ways that are in alignment with who I actually am and what I see possible as possible in the future and what I'm experiencing today, just in real life, in these moments, honestly, being a part of this Cadre community where we talk about emotions, where we talk about things that are hard, that's me, right? That's who I am. And so the feeling and the opportunity that comes with you starting to be with your people and whatever that is for you, I guarantee it will change your life.

It will give you incredible hope and promise for what's possible. And what's possible doesn't have to be some big, grandiose thing, right? What's possible is that you might start to enjoy your weekends because you're spending time with people who you actually care about. What's possible is that your head space, your body space, all the ways you show up in the world will feel better and stronger because you are surrounded by people who are like you. And I know it sounds like I'm overselling it. And as I was talking or thinking about doing this live today, you know, I'm like, hey, I'm coming on.

Like, hey, guys, all you have to do is this. But the truth is, it's truly life changing to be who you are and to shed the expectations that the world puts on us. And, yes, Luke, the group you surround yourself, they matter 100%. And so I know there's a saying, like, you are those five people that you spend the most time with, and that's true. And so if those five people for you today aren't your people, don't beat yourself up about it. Don't feel bad about it. It's just where you are. And so spend the time knowing who you are, surrounding yourself with your people, and just really digging into that and living it, because the world, the life that's ahead of you, will feel awesome in its potential.

So that's my message to you today. It's really just the payoff for the work of really digging into who you are. So I hope that's resonant with you. I hope you can go out today into the world. Maybe take 1 hour. We talked yesterday about the no lie challenge, being honest with yourself and others for one day, fully honest, anything that you feel that you notice, pay attention to it, and just do it for one day and see if it feels different. And I promise you, it will. All right, everybody. Luke, thanks for joining Hope.

Everyone has a beautiful day, and we will talk to you soon from Cadre. Thank you for being here with us. Bye, guys.