Integrity, it is the raw naked vulnerable truth about you. When you strip everything else away, it is what you are left with. It is what is at the core of your being. The meat and bones of who you are.

I stared at them through a screen on a zoom meeting. We are only as good as our words. I knew the kind of integrity that they came with, I knew it. They used pretty words to paint a picture that looked far more beautiful than the actual one, thinking that people would buy the painting and not see the real picture. I knew the kind of integrity that they had, I had seen glimpses of it multiple times. At that moment, they dropped their towel and showed me their naked self, they showed me their integrity. Despite the fact that they openly and publicly announced one thing they went back on their words when no one was looking. When they weren’t in the spotlight and when no one would see, they went back on their word. They acknowledged and said they were going back on their word but I never asked for an explanation, what good would it do anyway? Their explanation would be pretty words that likely weren’t true either. As much as I love a pretty painting, I didn’t need more of that in my life so I never asked why. Once someone shows you their integrity like that, trust them. Don’t ask them to feed you more empty words.

They shifted the conversation and asked me to make some choices. The choice was crystal clear, “I am going to do exactly what I said that I would do” I said back without skipping a beat.

“Well, we aren’t” he said back. I smiled and nodded and thought to myself “I already know that”.

Integrity, it is what you are left with when you strip everything else away. It is the raw, naked, vulnerable truth of your soul.