I’ve found that one of the great things about getting older is I’m much more comfortable expressing my opinion than I used to be, even when I’m with folk whose views widely diverge from mine. This doesn’t mean I’m closed to other ways of thinking, or unable to change my mind if someone comes up with a better argument. It just means that thanks to decades of life experience, I’m now at ease enough in my own skin to say what I honestly think. This is in contrast to when I was younger and wracked with worry about the impression I was making and whether people liked me.
Yet according to author, journalist and comic Gretel Killeen, who presented at Happiness & Its Causes 2013, just because you're mature in years is no guarantee you'll speak with an authentic voice.
Certainly in her professional life, Killeen has never baulked at speaking from her heart even if at times doing so has landed her in trouble. She tells how politicians with their noses out of joint have tried to sue her and get her taken off TV - and that she's been publicly smeared with every name in the book including "fat, ignorant, immoral and smart arse." Hence she believes she's better qualified than most to advise us on "how to communicate authentically."
Killeen says it's tragic that "in the most important times in our life with loved ones, with our bosses" many of us feel like we can't be our true selves. Yet we still expect our friends, lovers and colleagues to trust us.
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Category(s):Self-Confidence
Source material from Think and be Happy
