 Hey Psych2Goers and welcome back to our channel. Thank you so much for all the love you've given us. Your ongoing support has helped us make psychology and mental health more accessible to everyone. Now, let's continue. As we grow up, we develop our own definition of an ethical and moral life. The infamous Lawrence Colberg's Six Stages of Moral Development are a testament to that, with each level symbolizing an individual becoming more moral and self-aware. But when it comes to being true to yourself, staying in line with your own values is only one part of the equation. What it means to stay true to yourself is different for everybody. So here are seven signs that you aren't being true to yourself to help you fine tune your moral compass. Number one, you tend to copy others. When we copy others, there's usually an incentive to doing so. Perhaps what they did landed them a great new job, got them admitted to a competitive program, or even helped them find their significant other. We want to recreate that same social success for ourselves, so we unconsciously start to follow in their footsteps. While there's nothing wrong with taking advice from others, trying to blatantly copy your friends and peers strips you of your own individuality. Two, you're a people pleaser. Do you have a hard time saying no? Do you tend to take on more than you can handle for other people? If this sounds a bit like you, you might be a people pleaser. People pleasers have gentle, giving hearts, but the real danger of this comes when someone tries to take advantage of your generosity. If you constantly put others before yourself and neglect your own well-being in the process, you might not be staying true to your own self. Number three, you let yourself be defined by how others see you. Are you overly worried about what others think of you? Do you follow along with what everyone else is doing, because you're too afraid to go against the grain? Do you let yourself be defined by how others see you? When you fall in line with everyone else, you're at risk of sacrificing your own individuality. On a deeper level, you might give up on your own dreams and desires to appease the will of others and give in to the pressure of what you think you should be doing. Number four, you attract drama into your life. When you're distracted by unnecessary drama, you're also distracted from yourself. By allowing chaos to swirl around you, you are having to put your time and energy into putting out all the big and little fires. In effect, you're also not putting the time and energy into yourself that you might need. When you attract drama into your life, it becomes a distraction mechanism to deter you from more pressing matters that you should be tending to. Number five, you give your power to someone else. Do you tend to let other people make decisions for you? Do you seek outside validation and external advice from others? You want them to tell you you're doing great, and you want them to give you a path to follow. By doing this, you avoid having to trust yourself, because if you put your trust in someone else, you don't really have to be responsible for what happens in your life. This disempowers you and the ability to make your own decisions and trust your own voice. Number six, you procrastinate. Do you constantly put off small tasks? Are you waiting around to make that big career change you've been thinking about for a while? At the root of procrastination is the fear of failure and avoidance. There's no way you can be true to yourself if you're also avoiding yourself. If you're stuck in hesitation, too afraid to move forward, you might be compromising what's actually best for you. And number seven, you justify your actions. Do you find yourself justifying decisions that you once considered questionable? Perhaps you justify your procrastination, your people-pleasing ways, or even the times you let others take power from you. You are a priority, and the decisions you should make are the ones that keep you safest and happiest. Do you relate to any of these signs? If so, what do you plan to do next? Sometimes you can be your own worst critic and expect too much from yourself, so we want to remind you that it's important to practice self-care and to hold compassion for yourself. Please like and share this video if it helped you and you think it could benefit someone else too. The studies and references used are listed in the description below. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button and the notification bell icon for more Psych2Go content. Thank you for watching and we'll see you next time.