the key point for me in this presentation is: instead of asking what other people think of me if I say that, I started asking myself 'what will I think of myself if I dont say that'

“It is a joy to be hidden and a disaster not to be found”

I am 53 now, broken, and only now just realising I sacrificed my Self as a small child. I am in therapy and will Change. There is hope.

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest achievement. Don't wait for people to come and find you, take your true self out of the hiding and see how your world changes"

“I kept twisting myself into whatever shape my father wanted me to be.” - this one hit hard.

Key point: Nobody cares as much as you think they do. This was a great talk!

Never be scared to be your true self even if it goes against the grain.

i felt so proud of her when she spoke about her parents - it was so brief and honest, yet she didnt try to hide her feelings about it! i could see her acknowledging her pain and continuing forward bravely - so inspiring ♥️

she was 26 in 1999?! I thought she was 26 right NOW

She was bending over backwards to please others. Then her back gave way. Our bodies are always showing us where we are going wrong. The danger is that when we dont listen to the small signals it will amp up to make us listen.

Authenticity with Empathy with SELF is GOLDEN.

I have spent the past few days thinking over how strongly I hide my true personality, and thinking over how it came to be, in hopes to change it and come out of my hiding place.... As a child I believe I was told to "settle down" too many times that it just stuck, and asked to "wait until we are home" to be dancing or singing or whatever else I was up to... That's how I think it went down that got me this way. But I found this video after spending today with this pain in my back. I've even thought of it as a problem with one of my disc's... so this is extremely profound to have stumbled upon this video. I will not give up on bringing my true self out. I want to play and never worry about who's watching. People can stay settled down just like they were taught. And the ones that would enjoy me will. It's just a matter of time and patience but I hope I don't take too long. I'm 28 right now ♡

Such an important topic. In fact many diseases are from not being true yourself, from breaking yourself not listening yourself.

“I kept twisting myself into whatever shape my father wanted me to be.” - this one hit hard. No pun intended.

It resonated with me so deeply I started to cry half way and a weight lifted off my shoulder. I feel like God sent me this message when I needed the most.

"You had to sacrifice who you were to be what other people needed you to be."

“ what will I think of myself if I don’t say that” cut deep

The most subversive thing a woman can do is to talk about her life like it matters, because it does. ~ Mona Eltahawy

Another thing is feeling like you’re the only one going thru this, so you hide it and don’t share these feelings. It makes it snowball. So relatable. Never thought others felt like hai

"How will I think about myself if I don't say this" was really powerful and inspiring!

At the risk of being a proverbial wet blanket it's important to do the work of removing yourself from abusive people, finding yourself, and slowly revealing yourself to people you can easily do without in your life. Take the time. Do the uncomfortable work. Hiding kept you alive so cautiously find a safe environment for your true self to thrive. Most people will not need this advice but those who do need to follow it to survive. If you are one of them please take heart in the fact that you're one of the few and there is value in being rare. Your unique perspective may not be wanted by all but it is needed.

It’s better to be liked for who you really are than to be liked for who you aren’t. It’s better to be true to yourself and be disliked than to put in a bunch of effort to be something fake and still be rejected anyway. Friends made while pretending to be something you’re not are often not very good friends. A good friend is someone you like for who they are, and they like you for who you are. So how can you have good friends if they don’t know you? I’ve had a lot of friends in my life. Not many of them knew the real me. The ones I still have knew the real me. And I want you to know, once you’re friends with everyone, you begin to wonder why you ever wanted to be friends with everyone. Some people aren’t worth being friends with. Some people are perfectly okay among their own people, but you realize you don’t want to be in that circle. And that’s not to say you can only be friends with people similar to you. It’s deeper than that. Just cultivate authenticity in yourself. Be true to yourself. Don’t offer a false self to others. You will find yourself with friends with many things in common, and many interesting differences as well. You will find people you mesh with who are very similar and very different from you, and you won’t get along with people you are very similar to and who you are very different from. But all the people you’re friends with will have one thing in common: they like you. The real you. There is a person from every corner of the world who could possibly like you, all with completely different things going on. And their neighbors might not be so fond of you. It’s not your fault. No one has to like anyone. It’s good that they don’t have to like you. It means the ones that do like you are more meaningful. Imagine if everyone just had to like you. Then it would be like no one did. Plus, pretending to be something you’re not - you’re hiding from your real friends. You’re actively making it harder for your people to find you. What about popular people? Well, most popular people are doing exactly that. Pretending to be something else. It might look fun, but in reality, many popular people feel lonely. It looks like they have a lot of friends, but they don’t feel close to anyone. Sure, some popular people are liked by many, and seem to have genuine friends. I’ve known people like this, and they’ve been stereotypical popular kids, but curiously, they’ve also been all kinds of other types as well. We all can think of popular people who don’t fit the classic stereotype. In reality, these people are extremely varied. But they all have one thing in common. They’re liked for who they really are. They’re comfortable and genuine and authentic. Chasing popularity won’t guarantee popularity. And if you get it by chasing it, it will probably feel empty. If you instead prioritize being authentic and forging real friendships, never mind the popularity, you’ll have a better chance at becoming popular. It’s also like how if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. It takes more effort to try to give everyone everything they want, and you’re less likely to succeed. As opposed to trying to please the people that actually matter, it taking less effort, and it actually being possible. Often, people want contradictory things. You will end up displeasing some by pleasing others. Also: when riding in an airplane, you put your face mask on first if the cabin loses pressure. If everyone does the same thing, then no one needs help. But if anyone can’t, then you won’t pass out, and you can help them in turn. You are a better force for good when you have first fulfilled your own needs. You can help more people if you are strong. It’s okay to not be liked by everyone.

I cried so hard watching this I don't know why

My problem is- I've been hiding for so long, that I can't even know who is the real me... The real me never had a chance to see light. Maybe the real me isn't so great, but it bothers me not to know myself.

i wish for everyone a group of friends just like the people in the comment section on the youtube videos youre watching

Brilliant. Being vulnerable can be very difficult however living your own truth is necessary in order to truly live.

I'm just stunned to my core because of how deeply and intensely this just affected me.. I am in awe of how her feelings and experiences were almost exactly the same as my own.. I didn't know what to expect when I started watching this, but I definitely wasn't expecting to be so impacted by it in a way that I needed to so desperately.. I'm so humbled and grateful for this and I know God led me to it because He knew what I was needing to hear..

I took myself out of hiding and the people that truly love me, loved me more and the people that don't love me, fell out of my life.

Much like the case studies in Dr. Gabor Maté's "When The Body Says No".

I Had the exact same experience of bending backwards to please people (especially my parents) and my back giving way; still took me a couple of years to start finding my true self. But I've found him now and everyday feels great :)

I don't usually comment but I had to for this. The content of this presentation was great and very relatable. I like how you used the pain you experienced physically and linked it to the pain one can experience when not being her true self. If we will be ourselves amidst a world that is constantly trying to change us, we will attract just what we need for ourselves to live a fulfilling life.

Wow, I haven't even realized there are such people 'who hide'. I am, quite on the contrary, too open. And it's fun, you know, life is both tough and fun when you are true to yourself.

she's gorgeous and funny and genuine

It’s really tough growing up as a girl too I gravitated watching princess movies as an escape, and it made me feel the “knight in shining armor” would find the me I hid so long ago. And I wish I realized earlier so I didn’t try to find it in men who didn’t deserve me anyway

She didn't report nor explained the how. But she absolutely moved towards authenticity.

Excellent talk. You could feel the pain of her struggle when she talked about being out in the ambulance. How it all came crashing down

We hide when there is danger - and then we forget we are hiding when the danger is no longer there, coming out of that hiding place not only takes courage, it takes illumination - to REALIZE that you are hiding and to REALIZE that you are not happy and to REALIZE that things could be different and to REALIZE that you can try something new. It's not easy - it takes time - but once your realize you need to do it you have EVERYTHING to gain. Courage and strength to anyone who now realizes that this is what they must now do. You CAN do it... you are not alone... good luck... and welcome back.

Showing your true self can lead to abandonment and anger, make no mistake. That is a risk. Still, the risk may be worth it to people who truly want to be known and who want relationships that go beyond mere good times and politeness. Some people do not want anything more than that; every day I read on insta and other sites, "Abandon friends who introduce drama, negativity. Draw BOUNDARIES against such persons." So there is a cost to be considered in every human relationship, depending on what you want.

Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, "something is out of tune" - Carl Jung

I want to be myself because i am not happy with pretending to be someone else, i think if i can be my “true self” somethings going to change.

I find her story beautiful! Don;t wait for people come and find you. Take your true self out of hiding and see how your world changes.

one of the most relatable TED talks to me ever.

I used to hide because I feel anxiety in public..but being a teacher made me learned to overcome the problem..sometimes it's not easy but doing what I love certainly reduce my anxiety..keep fighting and may the light shine the path for you

Feeling greatful to have stumbled across this inspiring story ❤️

Scary how some people live their whole life without showing who they really are and what they love because of fear and made up scenarios in their heads. This is great advice.

“Take your true self out of hiding” 🔥💚

This is courageous of her to stand there and be her self! She should know that the nature of humans is weird. Don’t let it get to you. We all have our own ‘soul clan’. That’s where you will be totally accepted. And if you on your own, try your ‘soul’.😅❤️ Great speech👍❤️💐

so beautiful. proud of you girl. and proud of anyone who's reading this comment and is on their journey to find themselves.

Yes! This is such an important message for people, especially young women, to hear! So proud of you for getting into therapy and being brave enough to be yourself, Ruth!

Instead of saying: What will other people think of me if I do that? Say: What will I think about me if I don't do that? That's 💥. Thank you!

This story at the station is an example of how pain in your soul can make a back pain really bad and make you pass out to show that you crave relief (didn’t want to call an ambulance, interestingly) when other people with a herniated disk just keep walking and take a pain killer.

"What will I think of myself, if I don't say that?!" That makes the real difference.

We spend so much of our lives suppressing ourselves and smothering our passions for fear of judgment that eccentricity be labeled crazy. Such beautiful souls pressed into corners of a room afraid to speak, act and sing... thank you so much for sharing this talk and thank you Ruth Clare for your magnificent perspective on the subject of embracing oneself. We have a lot to learn about our social lives and very rarely does that social life actually teach us. It's magnificent to see someone speaking on their experience particularly highlighting the triggers in her personal history which caused such repressive self-judgment.

This was a truly touching talk. I'm going through my own journey of peeling back all the layers of conditioning that has made me feel hidden, unseen, unheard. I really appreciated tihs talk!

Thanks for the Winnicott reference.

to be yourself in a world that it constantly trying to make you sth else is the greatest achievement ♥️

I’m a Californian lived in Europe Canada and Middle East and wasn’t really drawn to New York either.

2:16 REALLY resonates with me in a heartbreaking way.

This really hits home on a lot of levels. I’m going through serious health issues. Issues that wouldn’t have gotten this bad if I hadn’t been so focused on whatever awful event was going on in my life at the time… I really didn’t think this was how bad off I was until just under a year ago, when my health finally collapsed and I literally couldn’t ignore it any longer or I was going to die. I’d gone through so much prior to this crash, that what caused the crash was me giving up, I just gave up and waited to die, I quit eating for years and only drank things, which dropped my body weight by almost half. I was already skinny and this pushed my body over an edge through exhaustion and starvation. It was around that time when I looked in the mirror and realized I couldn’t even recognize myself, if lost so much of my mass that I literally looked like a walking sickly half dead thing that could kneel over any second. I promise, the pain of rejection hurts less than the pain of realizing you nearly killed yourself to please people who treated you like no one should ever treat another living creature

“Bravo!” It takes a lot of guts to speak your mind but it takes a load off!!!🌹

I received a lot love of my mother and my father, when i was a child I also from my grandparents I feel so blessed to received from them we were poor but i feel rich with all of them, and believed or not I messed them a looooooot.

And this time, the most confident you can ever get- accepting and revealing your flaws and your strength in front of the world ❤

"don't wait for people to come and find you, take your truth self out of hiding and see how your world changes"

12:50 - "What will I think of myself if I dont say that?" Such a powerful question!

Brilliant beyond belief. A gem of a presenter, I hope she acts soon. I would love to see her work.

At core, I am naive, kindly and mellow. I pretend to be tough because inside, I guess I'm afraid I'll be trampled, taken advantage of and bullied like I was as a child. My mum (well-meaning) told me to toughen up a bit. So I did, and now I find it very hard to be myself.

I’ve had the habit to put off my dreams for anything that might seem to keep myself connected to what I am comfortable with no matter if it lead to happiness or not...

The world is my canvas and I am the brush.

Exactly approve of yourself first. Trust your gut. Always. And the people who will honour and respect you, will be attracted to you.

Enjoyed the talk. St. Francis is my role model. I dreamed of living on as little as possible. I finally got the courage and now am a cashier/stocker at a Salvation Army's thrift store, making minimum wage.

A Beautifully presented talk, that spoke the truths that many of us are finding hard to say

Thank you so much for opening yourself up and sharing your story with us, Ruth! I think this is so relatable for so many people including me. I will try to implement your advice in my life starting from today!

Beautiful impressive amazing soul. So true we are trying to fit what others us to be. Believe in yourself and slowly steadily n surely reach your intention. Very inspiring. Thank you, bless you. All your dreams come true.

These ted talks almost make me cry every time I watch them. It's so close to home.

Thank you Ruth.

I can relate to this. Changing who I am to please other people family & friends. Do you ever think to yourself who am I?

Thank you for sharing. If you read this: I know that feeling of surprised revelation. I alwayse carried that deep conflict within abut stuff I wanted to tell my dad, about him misbehaving and not approving of his behaviour.... after a lot of years i gathered the courage and I waited anxiously for a deeply cutting reply or response... but everything that happened was him not really listening and continuing his casual absurd dialogues....I was so stunned, I couldn`t believe it. I told him tons of pent up words and feeling and he didn`t even really realize what just happened. It helped me realize, how shortsigted and blind people can be, while we feel deep hurt/anger or other emotions ... It had occupied my mind for years and suddenly the knot was just solved and nothing apocaliptic happened. I felt different and free and strong , relieved and he was just as usual... Afterwards it really made me smile, because it was just so absurd. It felt hilarious :D So it is good to be yourself, say what btthers your heart - especially if it takes a leap out courage and strenght. A lot of people do not even listen properly. Speak up for yourself. You deserve it and you`re worth it .

A wonderful person! Thank you..

We often hear "be yourself." But I like this mantra: "What would I think of myself if I don't say that" and when you're not motivated "what would I think of myself if I don't do that" It makes it easier to put into practice on a daily basis😅

I felt this. 😭 Not bcoz I am afraid to be judged or what.. But a lot of people are dragging me down.. So I dont let them see my true confident self. That I want them. To conclude what they want to think about me.. But I think I have to get myself back on track

Absolutely wonderful to know that I am not the only person who survived self sabotage. 🙏🙏👍👍❤❤

Thank you. Biggest takeaway is the question. What will i think of me if i don't say this (or stand my ground in other ways) instead of what will happen what will they think of me if i say that.

What a great talk!

This is so true. What a great talk. Thank you.

Ruth Clare your story reminded me of myself. Many women and men can relate to this topic. I love every detail of her story.

Thank you very much for the brilliant talk. I've learned a lot from your story. I hope I can find the real me and stick to it.

She's a year older than me. And so much of my life was very similar, people pleasing. Some of my inner voice wasn't really mean, but what I was programmed from childhood. I am smart, brave, resilient, and as I validate myself and quit trying to please everyone I can please myself first.

Great talk. I love all her three ted talks

"a weight that felt a lot like sadness"

i needed to hear this today. thank you

well done Ruth, thanks for sharing your brave journey

It did hit home. Can't say words more than this, I don't know what to !

I understand you completely. Thanks for your inspiring story!

SO relatable! Thank you so much for this story Ruth ❤

This is SO good! It applies to so many people in our world,!

This TED talk in particular captured my attention

So proud of who you are! You have come a long way, well done! 💝✨️

I needed to hear this. Thanks, Ruth, for your courage to share your story. Inspiring.

This is the most under-rated Ted Talk ever

Thank you!