The best version of you.
Today’s post is inspired by all the companies out there peddling their “secret sauce magic formula” that will help you transform yourself into the best version of you. My apologies in advance, but I’m in a bit of rant mood today, so if you came here looking for a gratitude post, read this next sentence, skip the rant, and hopefully you will find some inspiration. Today I’m grateful I finally stopped buying into this bullshit that if I need to chase a “better version of me.”
These companies that “helping” you to become a “better version,” are literally taking any iota of self-doubt you may have had about whoo you are, and profiting off of a program to help you fix it, all in the name of creating a better version of you. (Insert eye roll and middle finger here) For those of you whoo have missed out on these targeted ads, I’ll give you the cliff notes version. Read carefully, this is some expensive, shit advice here.
(Insert your name here) You see Katie, it all starts with you. It’s within you to be the best version of yourself. Katie my proven program will help you become the best version of you, unlocking your endless potential, and attracting all the right clients to help you build a successful, six-figure business. Katie it’s time you started getting out of your own way. And that starts with getting out of your head. When you complete my proven transformational program, you will have the life you’ve always dreamed of; financial freedom, health, happiness, the list is literally yours to write. But it won’t be an easy journey. In order to be the best version of yourself, you’re going to need to give 100% every. single. day. Katie, I know that you are capable of being the best version of you. I’m committed to making sure you do. That’s why I’ve tailored my proven program to meet you where you are at, help you work through all those past traumas and negative mindsets that have held you back your whole life, and get you to become the best version of you!
It all sounds nice, but what if I told you that you are already the best version of you? Yes, you, the human sitting on the couch eating potato chips, watching Netflix and scrolling on Facebook. You are already the best version of you, because you’re you!
Naturally resourceful, creative, and whole, you are equipped with all you need.
Like my girl Whitney said, It’s all in youuuu…Notice she didn’t say it was it’s in the best version of you. It’s just in you. Period. So unless you’re bipolar or suffering from a split-personality disorder, please disregard this notion that there are bad, better, and best versions of you. You’re already good enough, and smart enough, and gosh darn it people like you. And if you’re old enough, you’ll get that reference.
Also, while I’m on this rant, I have to say that this notion giving less than 100% somehow makes you a lesser version of you is, quite frankly, bullshit. It sounds fucking exhausting, and it’s definitely not sustainable. Have you met life? It’s fucking hard sometimes to give 100%. Honestly, sometimes, it’s even hard to just show up. That doesn’t mean you’re a lesser version of you. As my podcast co-host, Kristen Aguirre always says, “It’s okay to not be okay.” But I digress.
Perhaps you have goals you want to hit, or maybe like a lot of people, you just aren’t feeling particularly satisfied with certain areas of your life, like your career, or your finances (yes, they are different), or your physical environment, your partner (or lack there of), or health. I feel that. I’m divorced. I’ve had a mental breakdown. I’ve been fired a few times, once from a company I owned, so clearly I’m familiar with a land called rock bottom.
Looking back though, the hardest times in my life were those times I didn’t think I was the best version of me. I spent so much wasted energy working on becoming a “better version” of myself, I never stopped to realize the world doesn’t need a different version of me, the world just needs more of me. That vulnerability that Brené Brown speaks so eloquently about, that human showing up every day, is the “best version” of you.
Whoo you are is already the best. The world needs more of you, not a better version.
When I first dipped my toe in the coaching pool, I had emotionally hit rock bottom and was quickly losing my sense of self and decided to hire a life coach. One of my first sessions together, she held up a photo I had posted on instagram, looked at me and said, “That’s not Katie. When you post things like this, the world doesn’t get to see the real Katie.” I deleted the photo when I got home.
I was determined to be the best version of me, and that meant deleting a photo of a coffee mug that said, “Fuck yeah, caffeine,” and throwing the mug away when I got home. I’ll let you decide if that photo was or was not the “real Katie.” But I think we both know the fucking answering to that. I also should note that I had stolen the coffee mug from the Afrobrutality booth at the CrossFit games. It was a challenge on their instagram and if you got away with it and tagged them on instagram, they would send you a free t-shirt. Giving fucks about caffeine and CrossFit were kinda my thing back then. And when I got divorced, I gave very few fucks, but the coffee maker came with me.
So what’s the moral of this story? I’m not entirely sure, I got a bit lost in the rant and reminiscing. But don’t worry, I’ve still got questions. If you’re considering how to become the “best version” of yourself, start by asking yourself what versions of yourself do you not love? Why don’t you love that part of yourself? What would happen if you no longer hated that part of yourself? How would you view things differently? What would be available to you if you just loved you, for you. Right now. This version. The future version of you may have financial stability, a life partner, a smaller pant size, whoo knows. But what the fuck is the point if you don’t love the version of you that your friends and family all love right now?