Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life

by Joshua Fields Millburn

Authenticity Think of a person you respect for their honesty, their openness, their integrity. You know a few people like this, right? Pick one, and think about that person for a moment. This person feels real to you. Genuine. Authentic. It’s refreshing to be around this person, to get to know this person, to interact with them. We feel safe around authentic people, as if we could reveal to them our deepest, darkest secrets, as if we could trust them with anything. And when we get to know these people on a deeper level—when we establish a connection with them—it’s refreshing to discover they are who we thought they were, that beneath the surface they are authentically themselves. Authentic people have no agenda, and yet they have aspirations. Authentic people are trustworthy, and yet sometimes they fall short. Authentic people are awesome, and yet sometimes they are superficial. Authentic people care enough to listen, and yet sometimes they don’t hear everything. Authentic people can weather the storm, and yet they get wet. Authentic people are passionate, content, carefree, calm, kind, and helpful—and yet authentic people are still people, they are human beings, and thus they worry, possess doubt, and make mistakes and bad decisions. Authentic people are fallible. Authentic people are flawed. Authentic people are fearful. Authentic people are tempted by lust and greed—by all the trappings of this world. None of us is perfect, but we all have the capacity to be authentic, ...