You will die someday.
Not a warm and fuzzy opener, I know. But stick with me.
Because when you remember that truth, something strange happens. You stop performing. You stop pretending. And you start asking better questions.
Like this one:
What exactly do I lose by being fully, wildly, unapologetically myself?
Back in 2007, a man named Randy Pausch asked that question without ever saying the words.
He was dying of terminal cancer. Months to live.
And he walked onto a stage at Carnegie Mellon… smiling.
He didn’t deliver a sad farewell. He gave one of the most joyful, funny, hope-filled lectures ever recorded.
No script. No filters. No “personal brand.”
He talked about childhood dreams. Brick walls. Wonder. Resilience. Love.
He didn’t ask for attention. He earned it by being realer than anyone else in the room.
And that’s what made him immortal.
People don’t remember perfection. They remember truth.
Truth is rare. Truth cuts through noise. Truth hits like a lightning bolt to the soul.
Yet so many of us are out here trying to optimize our LinkedIn profiles while hiding the very thing that makes us unforgettable.
Our realness.
So I’ll ask you again. What do you actually risk by being authentically you?
You might lose a few people who only ever liked the filtered version.
You might make someone uncomfortable. You might shake a few cages.
But what you gain?
You gain peace. You gain power. You gain the kind of voice that stops scrolls and starts movements.
Speak like it’s your last shot. Write like someone’s life depends on it. Because it just might.
Randy Pausch didn’t wait to be bold. He didn’t wait for a brand strategist to tell him what to say.
He just told the truth. And in doing so, he gave the rest of us permission to stop hiding.
This moment you’re in right now? It could be someone else’s spark.
So don’t whisper.
Roar.
