Why being secure enough to be open about insecurity isn’t a weakness, damn it.

Being who you are is a strength, not a weakness

Because I have social anxiety and I’m super open about my fears and vulnerabilities, a lot people think I’m not confident and tell me to not sell-myself-short or be self-deprecating. I know that they’re only trying to be kind, but their mindset about authenticity and confidence is not the same as mine, which seems to be something I have to explain a lot.

I actually once had an editor who told me, “Carrie, you are the weirdest mix of incredibly confident and secure and insecure that I’ve ever met.”

I took that as a compliment because I wasn’t sure how else to take it, you know?

And other people have told me, “You are amazing. Don’t present as insecure! Know your power! You are hurting yourself by showing the world who you are.”

Which is kind of them because I know they’re trying to be helpful, but the thing is that I don’t want to pretend to be someone I’m not. To me, that’s a form of lying. I’d rather be honest and raw than polished and fake. I prefer honey over white sugar.

I’m lucky. I’m secure enough to be open about being insecure.

Weird, right? It shouldn’t be.

I know I’m flawed — so flawed — but I’m okay with it because people are supposed to be flawed…