Have you ever thought about who you are? Who you really are, at the depths of your core, without the Instagram filters and code switching language. Maybe you think about where you are or who you're with when you feel most like yourself. This episode is here to help you dig a little deeper into you.
Welcome to Inner Workout where your inner work begins. My name is Taylor Elyse Morrison, I'm the founder of Inner Workout and you as always are our expert guest. Thanks for being here, thanks for listening. You know, I like to start things off with a check in and what I wanted to do before we start our interview today is encourage you to give yourself a compliment. I can start. The compliment that I decided to give myself was this "Taylor, I really admire your persistence." And then after you give yourself that compliment, give yourself a few moments to receive it. I had my hand on my heart, as I said, that Not gonna lie, I got a little teary eyed, giving and receiving that compliment to myself. I'll give you a chance to do that. Maybe you say your name and then "I really admire...", fill in whatever blank.
Okay, hopefully that got you in the mood. For today's interview, the question that we're discussing is, when are you the most you? When are you the most you? Interesting question, right? And as I was reflecting on this, I had to stop and think, okay, what does it even mean to be me? We get advice all the time, just be yourself, just be yourself. As you're building your personal brand, that's what's going to attract people to you, that's what's going to draw people to you. We tell our friends to just be themselves when they're on dating apps and when they're going on their first and second dates. We've helped people to be themselves in the job interview process. It's advice that we, I mean, it feels cliche at this point, we kind of put that as a stamp on everything, just be yourself, which honestly, it's cliche because there's a lot of benefit in being yourself. But there's only as much benefit if we are able to understand and define who we are. Who is the yourself in that phrase, that piece of advice, be yourself? Who is that?
And I don't mean like the social media version of you that's got the cute filter and you spent forever thinking about like, what song lyric you're going to put in your caption. Maybe you've got your favorite like Vsco combination that you put over your photo and you've had some time to think about how you're portraying a version of yourself to the world. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm also not thinking about the version of yourself that you turn on where you're like, okay, we're going into the second date, this is the version of myself that I want to bring, or the version of yourself that you use when you're navigating corporate politics. And you know, if I bring up this topic with my boss's boss, I asked him about how his golf tournament went, it's gonna get him talking, and he's gonna think okay, yeah, Taylor's great. I've got her in the back of my head now. No, I'm not talking about any of those versions of you that are shaped and crafted for the consumption of others.
I'm talking about like the you when your head is just about to hit the pillow after a long day, and you're in that space between sleeping and waking. I'm talking about the you when you've got a day to yourself and you're doing whatever you do around the house. That version of you. I'm not necessarily talking about your best self or your highest self, I'm talking about like this. The full version, the good, the bad, all of this, that version of yourself. Where does that version of you exist? When are you the most you?
For me, when I think about this question, in the context of relationships with others, hands down, I'm the most me in my partner and relationship. I have been with my husband, since my senior year of high school and he is one of the few people who has seen the fullness of me. He's seen the ugly sides that not everyone gets to see, he's seen the tender and vulnerable sides. He's seen me overcome things that I haven't shared with people publicly. He's seen it all. And I feel like the version of myself that I am with him is the most me. It's the silliest, it's the spiciest, it's the most secure in myself, sometimes it's exposing some of the insecurities that I try and button up in front of other people, all of that exists in my relationship with my husband and that partner relationship. And outside of that relationship, I think I'm the most me when I am away from outside input.
If I can get to a place where I don't have my devices, I'm not getting advice from other people, it's just me and my thoughts. Oftentimes, it's me in nature, maybe with a pen and a paper to where I can just be and I'm not thinking about does my outfit look cute enough? I'm not thinking if I need to say the right thing, if I'm speaking too much or too little. I'm not thinking about making a decision or how other people will receive that. I'm just being really moment by moment, outside of when I'm looking at just me, not me in the context of relationship. It's those moments of alone time and really, simultaneously, being shut out from the rest of the world, but also really connected to the rest of the world through nature, if that makes sense.
So probably, honestly, the type of connection that's more life giving being in nature versus the type of connection that can be so draining for me, at least on social media, and all of the beautiful ways that we have to be connected that we also need to be mindful of because strengths over us become weaknesses and things that can create so much possibility without boundaries can become really harmful. So that's me, that is when I am the most me, and now I get to pose the question to you. It's time for your interview. When are you the most you?
Thank you for taking this time to reflect and determine in words. If you want to continue the conversation, you know that you can find me in Inner Workout's free online community. And if you don't feel comfortable sharing your musings in a public forum, you can always DM me there. I love hearing from you. Thanks for your time. Thank you for your expertise, and I'll chat with you next week. Take care!