Who I am is constantly changing and therefore how I express myself is also evolving. I am a very transparent person so what you see on the outside is a clear indicator of what is going on inside as well. I have also noticed that the way I choose to express my self has changed as I have gotten older.

The turning point for me was turning 30, I have to say that overnight I became a lot more comfortable with who I am. I seemed to fit into my skin. This also gave me the confidence to express my self more and also push the boundaries of who I am. I took away the limits and asked myself what do I have the potential to be?

By looking at our potential we allow ourselves to try different things and take a few risks. I had traditionally expressed my self through my work, I had a pretty defined idea of who I was. however when I began to look at my potential it gave me liberty to try a few differnt expressions, I turned my hand to writing and expressing myself through some creative mediums (not all of them successful, I still have some still life watercolurs which are pretty ordinary).

I would encourage everyone to look beyond "who you are" and focus on "who you have the potential to be." Self expression lies in being at ease with who we are.

WOW! What a great post on "who you are".
I can really relate to some of the things that you are saying. For example, I often say that I refuse to play the "Seinfeld" game. What I mean by this is that don't try and read between the lines with me like they constantly did in that TV show....what you see is what you get. I'll often say to a person that is wondering if I'm upset with them...."if I'm upset then I'll tell you - you don't have to guess with me."
I had a different kind of revelation when I turned 40 - I found I became less tolerant of rubbish and that I just wanted to cut to the chase to get the job done.

I think the older you get them more real and transparent you aim to be. In our teens and twenties we get to pretend to be differnt people, it's a way of testing the water to see what people will accept and what people like.

As we get older we no longer strive to be what people accept but we want people to accept who we are.

I share your sentiment in wanting to get the job done. We only get one life and there is so much to do I haven't got time to pretend to be someone else. I am what I am.

Is it an age thing, do we become more confident with age?

I think that we do become more confident with age. I turned 41 recently I think my brain went through a transformation that went sort of like.... "I'm getting to old for this nonsense." when I was faced with complete stupidity. The challenge then became how to move through the issue in a way that the solution was received rather than being to worried to do anything.

Needless to say....there was a great outcome!

I have experienced over the past few years, that with each birthday, I seem to just 'become more of me'. I know myself a little better, make a little more peace with myself in areas of past struggle, and try a little less to be something other than 'just me'. I know so many people find growing older a challenge, and although I am FAR from old, I am truly enjoying the journey of growing up.

I do believe you get more confident as you get older. I used to be a shy wallflower and not say anything to the contrary of anyone else's opinion. But these days I'm quite happy to voice my thoughts and opinions and have gone quite the opposite way... in some ways. In fact, sometimes I think I can hear my mum's voice and I'm not sure whether I like that or not. I want to be me, but I am a combination of what my parents were and my grandparents and so on and I guess that, and the sum of all my experiences, makes me me.

I turn 50 this year and until this year began I wasn't even ready to admit to that but suddenly it doesn't matter anymore and I'm quite happy about it.