Have you ever found yourself pretending to be someone you’re not in front of someone you wanted to impress, only to have it backfire on you in the end?

I know I’ve certainly experienced this in my own life…

How not being authentic worked against me

I was forty-four years old, and divorced after 26 years of marriage. It was Valentine’s Day, and I had just agreed to marry a wonderful man.
His two children from his previous relationship were NOT happy about the news of our engagement.

“Congratulations,” his 11 year-old, Michael, said. “Just don’t expect me to come to the wedding.”
His reaction was an unpleasant surprise to his father and me.
I understood that Michael, in particular, wasn’t exactly thrilled about us deciding to mesh our lives together, but…

I figured that time and love would turn things around , and so I married his father
After I got married, I continued to make a dedicated effort to win Michael’s acceptance and affection.
I continued to be very kind and sweet to this child, despite his disinterest in getting to know me.

And, even though I’m a very happy and positive person by my very nature, I do have moments when I feel tired or just plain challenged by something that’s going on, just like everyone else… moments where I may not feel like smiling.

But no matter how I was feeling in the moment, when Michael would walk into a room I was in, I’d always make sure I had a big smile on my face to try and make him feel welcome and comfortable — so much so that, sometimes, my face would hurt by the end of the day!

Pretending to be someone other than who you are only broadens the distance between yourself and the person you’re trying to establish closeness with.

I also ignored certain behaviors that were actually starting to drive me nuts on the inside…
Even though I’d never let my own children get away with some of the things that Michael was doing, I thought that by

Full story: https://www.trendiee.com/articles/are-you-pretending-just-so-that-others-will-like-you-heres-my-story/