Be your Own Hero

Embracing Authenticity and Self-Belief - By Nimita Herron

Reading time: 3 minutes

If I asked you who your hero is, what would you say?

Matthew McConaughey won an Oscar for Best Actor in 2014 for his outstanding performance in Dallas Buyers Club. His speech is something I have re-listen to over the years. In his speech, he talks about his hero – him in 10 years.

“Every day, every week, every month and every year in my life, my hero is always 10 years away. I’m never going to be my hero, I’m not going to attain that, I know I’m not, and that’s just fine with me because that keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing.”

It’s very overwhelming to feel like you have your whole life in front of you and that you have to do it perfectly. And with that we often look to others for inspiration, but inadvertently we place them on a pedestal. We strive to emulate them, yet everything we accomplish seems to fall short of our own expectations.

We endlessly scroll on social media wanting to be like the person going for a 5am run, or the person travelling the world and getting paid for it, or the person who won a Bafta (ok, perhaps the last one is one of my dreams, but I digress). In a world where we’re constantly comparing ourselves to others, it’s important to embrace our unique qualities and truly believe, deep down that ‘I matter inherently’.

Repeat after me: I matter inherently.

Instead of finding somebody else to chase, focus on chasing yourself.

Comparing yourselves to others is taking away from your energy – instead of wondering why your life isn’t like another person’s, or thinking how somebody is living life better than you, why not refocus that energy towards yourself? This shift in energy will give you more space to do the things that you love enabling you to lead a more authentic and fulfilling life.

Find your purpose – What success is to you, might be different from another person’s. Many things influence where our definition of success comes from – the media, our parents, society, traditions – these are just voices and opinions. To find success you need to find your purpose. In Sanskrit, it’s called ‘dharma’. Ask yourself what are you doing? And why are you doing it? Once you know your dharma you will feel content, and you’ll know that you’re making your biggest contribution and impact to society in your own way.

Make mistakes and fail – often we’re afraid of doing the wrong thing and that means we don’t even start, but Claudia Winkelman said something that I can never forget, “there’s something fabulously freeing when you realise you don’t really know anything at all.”

Don’t worry about what people think - Most people are judgemental about you living your most authentic life because they aren’t. If they were living a life where they were just themselves, doing what they wanted, they would embrace that in others, not dismiss or resent them. Confidence is the belief that you matter, that your work matters and that your relationships matter. If you truly believe this, you won’t care what others think of you. And the people who truly love and care for you will always be in your corner.

Always be grateful - never lose sight of where you came from and be humble for every single day. “Be grateful, for gratitude can bring life to life, it can turn a meal into a feast, resentment to love, a grudge to forgiveness, an enemy to a friend, a disease to hope and you to enough.” (Steven Bartlett, Happy Sexy Millionaire*)

We are all a work in progress. There’s no pinnacle of perfectionism to reach (that doesn’t exist). Don’t compare yourselves to others, just follow your own path and be your own hero. That’s how to live a genuinely authentic life.

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