I think my biggest message of all is, you know, I was a far from a perfect kid. A far from a perfect adult. I had so many insecurities, fears, anxieties. And, I think a lot of us who are successful -- and we're all successful in something, so everybody out there, you know, when we're successful, I think a lot of us hide the parts of ourselves that we are not so proud of. And what's happened to me in the last 10 years of my life is I decided, "You know what? I'm tired of hiding who I am -- and that was I'm a gay woman. Most of my career I had to be in the closet because I nearly lost a sponsor in the beginning when they found out that I was gay; and they basically said "Go grow your hair long, get a boyfriend, and we'll be all set. "

So, a part of me felt like Everything I achieve means nothing because I'm gay. That was kind of belief I was carrying around with me. And then I met my wife. She's an Australian -- Rebecca Keat -- and I tell you what, realizing that I was capable of finding the love that I always thought was a thing of fairy tales, that I was worthy of that -- it was like the greatest gift in the whole wide world. And I decided, pretty much on the day we got married, that you know what? I am just going to be all of who I am because people need to know that whoever put us on this Earth, whatever you believe in -- God, the universe, whatever -- whoever put us here, put us here exactly as we are because this is what we are intended to be.

And if you are hiding parts of yourself and going out in life and try to be great in your career, great your family, great at this, but you're operating at half strength, which I was doing -- I was operating with half of me out there, you know, getting on with the other half sitting on the bench because I'm like, 'stay home. Stay home. You're not going to be accepted.' You know, you're operating at half strength.

So on that day when I married my wife, I said this is it. I'm just being me. I don't care anymore because I have your love, and that's all I need. And, I tell you what, once I just started coming out talking about not just be gay -- I mean really that comes up really late, but just talking about things that I used to be ashamed about like my anxiety and how fearful I was and the mistakes I've made in my life.

But when you come out we speak about these things, people understand that they're not alone. We're all human. When we can express all of who we are and be fearlessly authentic -- Holy smokes! My world, my life, opened up. and I can't even express to you what it feels like to be operating full force. What's happening is that when you're either talking to someone in business or trying to develop a relationship with someone or your friends -- if there are parts of you that you're hiding away whatever that is -- there's this sense of resistance there, you know, you can almost, like, you don't know what it is. This kind of like, I don't know, you know, we're not that close or I don't know them that well.

But once you rip off all the masks -- and again, that can refer to anything, you know, anything, you know, maybe being in a job where on your resume you said you had all this experience, but you really didn't. So you're kind of not as experienced as they think -- like ripping that off because hey I'm doing a great job, but I have to tell you I was really scared when I sent my resume and because I really wasn't as great as I sounded there, but I think I'm doing a great job now. But oh my God now the scary, you know, even that kind of honesty and ripping off the masks -- it just it makes your relationships deeper, your experiences richer, people trust you more right away because they know that you're just being you.

And I truly believe that we weren't put here on Earth with huge faults or limits, you know? We were put here exactly the way we were meant to be. So my belief is that everyone should just be out there operating at full force, being all of who they are. And if you can be courageous enough or brave enough to do that, you will see your life change and most extraordinary ways. It really is incredibly powerful. Scary in the beginning but so powerful.

For more tips and advice about living an authentic life go to https://www.sirilindley.com/authentic/