Covid-19 has drastically changed the way we live our lives. Such unexpected and extreme events have the potential to wake us up from our comfortable slumber and force us to examine how we live our lives. Many thousands are dying, some possibly people we know. Others are in categories deemed to be high risk. Most of us are being reminded of the fragility of our existence, of our own mortality, and many of us are using this pressing of the pause button to step back and think about how we have lived and how we want to live. A term we have heard again and again during these times is ‘authenticity’.

In this episode, we explore what it means to live an authentic life.

Listen to the podcast link using the Spotify player above or by going to our Youtube channel. 

The handout accompanying this podcast can be downloaded as a PDF here or viewed as a webpage here.

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FURTHER LEARNING

Two particular favourites here. 

The first - a team favourite - the incredible Fleabag. Through two glorious seasons, this incredible show demonstrates like no other that authenticity is something we strive for, that it's a never ending process, and that sometimes, many times, we fuck up despite knowing deep down what we want to say or how we want to act. 

The second - one of Bob's favourite films - is Napoleon Dynamite. Napoleon is the outcast, the nerdy kid in high school trying to be himself despite endlessly being taunted by the 'cool' kids and living in a tiny town the middle of nowhere. The film shows that it takes courage to be authentic, not be afraid of being different, and celebrate your inner misfit. 

Finally, we talked a little in this fortnight's episode about the process of learning about who you are, what's important for you and what you believe in. A useful starting point may be reading an article like this that provides a list of values and an exercise that takes you through the process of identifying what values you may hold without realising it.