The message is always to be authentic, according to the prevailing definition of the word. Authentic according to the voice of others, true to the vision held of you.

The word loses its meaning, its…authenticity…in the clamor of noise telling us what it should be, how it should look.

Messaging is hypocrisy, and the demands are a lie: be authentic in a narrow path; be true, but not too shocking.

Be perfectly palatable, uncomplicated, neither too much nor not enough…be their authentic…never your own. – Caroline A. Slee