“To thine own self be true” is a quote from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” that suggests two ideas that are important to me. First, be honest with yourself, and second, be loyal to yourself.

A lyric I like says, “If you’re not at home in yourself, then you’ll never be at home.” I have often felt far from home in myself. When there is something I am unhappy about, I just keep going, going, going rather than face the problem that is causing all the commotion. The result is a vacant self. The cure for this is honesty: taking life for what it is and facing it.

With society’s emphasis on physical fitness, we are all used to seeing advertisements for diets, gym memberships and support groups to help us achieve our goals. But how often do we take the time to assess our spiritual fitness? Where are our personal trainers? In the same way these advertisements may make us feel embarrassed about the physical shape we’re in, that lesson on visiting teaching or temple attendance may make us feel uncomfortable with our spiritual health. Rather than avoiding such discomfort by turning away or tuning out, I am finding more strength as I take note of what I feel is in disaccord. Soberly looking at where I’m at, I’m able to become one with myself and finally feel at home inside.

In order for eternal progression to exist, it must mean there are ways to improve, which implies we need improvement, which must mean it’s okay to be behind where we want to go!

Satan is real and stands ready to make things harder for us in any way he can. This brings me to my second thought on being true to yourself: loyalty. We are daughters of God and He loves us. Knowing our weaknesses can lead us to fall away and be lost because we may feel embarrassed, or it can be the greatest source of our power as we know what needs to change! We can allow the Lord to “make weak things become strong”(Ether 12:27). The gospel is more than a righteousness checklist. We will find freedom from the mold, by being true to ourselves. No one is more pleased than our Father in Heaven when we treat ourselves kindly and earnestly seek his divine plan for us.

This column will continue to pursue ideas about our individual progression down the path to God.