1. Don't cover flaws, because you can’t. They’re there. Don't pretend perfection, because it's
something pretended. Don't pretend you're not the most beautiful thing there is -- someone
capable of listening to others and expressing what you truly believe.
Don't try to be cool, because it's just being relaxed and trying isn't. Don't try to be different,
because it will be way truer if you don’t.
Stop trying and let whatever comes to the surface not only stay there but come out. You will fail,
and you will look like a jackass, but is that such a big deal…? What about what you win by
doing so. And not only you. …It's an honest attempt; it helps you try, and fail, and it helps others
try in the face of uncertainty.
Forget about making impressions. ...You don't want them anyway - you want what is real, what
is actual, what means something You want what is in the eyes, not words, of people; you want
what shows when they’re no longer afraid of being transparent. You want what happens after
someone has taken the risk of looking stupid. You want what exists behind the mask. We all
have a mask but we also all have our real face. It doesn't look perfect but it's amazing because of
what it's capable of expressing. ...but it's more of an experience, than an impression, meaning it
won't impress us - it won't “look good” - but feels amazing (like looking into someone's honest
eyes)
So stop resorting to listening to the words, and find out what is actually being said. Stop waiting
for someone else, when you could be the one to take the risk. Looking stupid isn’t stupid – it
sets both of you free to be imperfectly, openly, vulnerably real. With each other, with the world –
for each other, for the world. If you know you have the opportunity to do it, and everyone is
waiting for someone else...
No matter what: Be you, come hell or high water and then do you, until it hurts.