A proper understanding of authenticity matters
If when you hear authentic, you hear something of Plato or Freud and a call to follow your desires and appetites to find and fulfill your pleasures, then chasing after and becoming authentic will not serve its ultimate purpose in your life. You may feed your appetites and achieve happiness, but appetites are never fully quenched, and happiness is based on circumstances. So you may have fleeting moments of success in being authentic, but you will never be truly full or fulfilled.
You may achieve great success in collecting things (finances, power, comfort, trophies, accolades), but as your circumstances change and your appetites grow, both of which I guarantee will happen, your fullness will lessen, and your happiness will diminish.
I promise your circumstances will change because they are impacted by others. The events of your life are out of your control. It is only your response to the events that you are in control of. So if your plan to achieve authenticity requires you to control your circumstances to ensure your appetites are fed, you should expect difficulty because rarely are others taking your appetites into account when they act. It’s not that they don’t care, they just have their own desires they are trying to feed, and when your desires clash with theirs, they will pick their happiness over yours.
I promise appetites will grow because an appetite is relative to the amount consumed. The more you consume (or collect), the larger the appetite grows. I promise this to be true. A few data points
The storage locker industry is a $39 billion industry with 1.9 billion square feet of storage space.
The weight management industry is $192 billion
The average house in 1920 was 1,050 sq ft. In 2014 2,657 sq ft.
So if you are following Freud's theories and you are spending life chasing after pleasures and desires trying to fulfill your appetites as a way of achieving authenticity, you will fail.
If you are constantly frustrated and stressed no matter how authentic you think you are being or what results you are achieving, it just might be because the definition of authenticity you are chasing after is flawed, and therefore, the results you are achieving are incomplete or even worse completely wrong.
But there is an alternative way.
So what?
What if being authentic is about identifying and living out your purpose. That thing that matters to you so much that you would set aside your desires if it meant you could positively impact it more. Identifying the thing that speaks to your heart instead of the thing that your stomach growls for is a more sustaining version of authenticity.
What if being authentic is about identifying your strengths (knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences) and finding opportunities to leverage them more often. Figuring out how to keep your strengths and abilities fed instead of your appetites is a more lasting approach to being authentic.
What if being authentic is about finding a way to spend an ever-increasing amount of your time, talent, and treasure changing the world (or at least someone’s world) for the better instead of trying to create a world where you are insulated to enjoy your own comforts and pleasures.
This might represent a radical shift in your understanding of what it means to live authentically, but how is your current approach working out for you… really?
Are the results you are currently achieving bringing you sustained happiness or is every achievement just another stair-step towards desiring more?
Conclusion
In life, if you want different results you have to do different things. Consider defining authenticity differently. Consider becoming more intentional about what results matter to you, why they matter, and how your talents can be used to achieve those results. A new understanding and approach to living authentically just might be the different you are really longing for.