It is not always easy to spot the traits of authentic people when you first get to know someone. I don’t think there is any arguing against the opinion that the best kinds of friend to have are the ones who are the most authentic. When you are putting your trust and friendship in someone, you want them to be as authentic, truthful and real as possible, but unfortunately, those are characteristics that aren’t always natural for some people. We can’t help who we like in a platonic or romantic sense from the off, but we can help ourselves by recognizing some universal indicators of people who add value to our lives. Here are five traits of authentic people!
The more comfortable a person is with themselves, the more authentic they come across as being. Somebody who can accept their flaws and try to work on them rather than completely ignoring them and denying that they even have any is always going to be a more rounded and authentic personality.
A truly authentic person will only ever live life according to their own values and integrity, even when their opinion or belief is in opposition to the status quo. Just opting to go with the flow is not the mark of authenticity; it is the mark of being kind of a sheep who doesn’t want to stand out. Integrity and authenticity go hand in hand.
A genuinely authentic person will not be scared to stand up for themselves and for those that they care about, because courage is something that comes naturally to them. It takes a lot of inward courage to live by your own rules and integrity and a lot of outward courage to make sure that you maintain that level of lifestyle, so an authentic person will always be in possession of a lot of courage.
People who are truly authentic don’t have it in them to hold grudges for an extended period of time, and as a result there is a huge capacity for forgiveness within them. They understand that grinding a relationship to a halt because of one negative event isn’t the most ideal way to live, and they will always look for a way to forgive and move forward, but this does not mean that they will forget. An authentic person will always be aware of their standing with every person in their life.
You can never truly be authentic if you can’t take time to look within yourself and assess your personal emotions and feelings. Introspection is a key quality for any authentic person, because it helps them to give themselves a reality check when they might need it and keeps them firmly grounded in the real world. If you never find time for some introspection, you run the risk of becoming somewhat detached from the real world. I think we can all agree that being detached from the real world is the opposite of authentic!