Part 8 – AuthentiCITY in 2025 – IYKYK

Anyone else have feelings of angst and uncertainty recently?  I certainly have.  Economic, political, health-related, job status, relational, etc.?  It could be anything.  It just seems like there is a bit of collective nervousness abound.  Well, I wanted to substantiate the power of AuthentiCITY in ANY environment.  The reason is because when we look internally as our main driver, compass and reward system, much of what is happening externally reduces in volume and importance.  This is not toxic positivity in just believing everything is sunshine and roses.  There is some f’ed up stuff happening in the world.  I can’t control much of that though.  I CAN control my response to much of the external stimuli, as well as my personal zone of influence.  This is my approach to AuthentiCITY in 2025 in case it helps you at all to create or adjust your own.

As a proof point, I was recently promoted at work.  Coincidence of timing?  I am convinced not.  I started this AuthentiCITY commitment journey last year.  I put myself out there in these posts.  I stopped hiding.  I began letting go of the guilt and shame that was weighing me down.  These things were within my control.  The result - my clarity, courage and self-acceptance grew significantly.  Then, as the Mayor of Me, I decided I was ready for my next growth step.  With the support of many and my own hard work, I am honored to have been selected for this new role, with a new team, in a new area, with a new outlook.  To be clear, I didn’t leave a bad situation, but I am now blessed with a new challenge.  A challenge that may not have materialized if I had not done the work internally first.  My point for this post – if you are feeling any external torment right now, hit the pause button and focus on what is happening on the inside.  What are you thinking about?  What are you feeling?  Is there something closer to home that might need to be addressed instead of the oversized blame you are placing on the external news?  Are you feeling stuck?  Are you feeling like there is nothing to look forward to?  Been there, done that.

I am not a therapist, and I don’t want to minimize anyone’s situation.  With that disclaimer and with the extreme examples of angst aside, we can change, and we can start right now.  We can’t change everything, but we can change at least one thing.  To begin, lets shorten our circles.  Lets look at you and your direct mayoral kingdom (YOU, your family, friends, coworkers, those that are important to you).  Focus here, not more broadly.  Take a step today to do something with these constituents that makes you feel good about YOU.  This can look so many different ways.  Go volunteer; send unexpected complements or notes of gratitude; network internally within your company; research new roles at your company; mentor someone; start a small side hustle; pick up a new hobby; drop a relationship or habit no longer serving you; just take a tangible step towards a new growth challenge.  Renewed mind = renewed results.

I have had this exact conversation with several others recently, and based upon their experiences as well as my own earlier this year, I am convinced the overwhelmingly positive results are not coincidences (while a VERY small data set, 100% is still 100%).  So much so that I felt compelled to share this.  So, while we cannot control all the chaos happening in the world around us, we can be authentic and accountable to ourselves and those within our proximity.  We can be a constituency that chooses progress over perfection; belonging over divisiveness and a Mayor’s mentality over a victim mentality. 

Let’s go get it, whatever it is.  And once you know what it is, you will know (and please share back here and pay it forward).  Welcome home!