be oneself

Idioms  

1. Act in one's usual fashion; be in one's normal physical or mental state. For example, Peter's finally recovered from the accident and is himself again , or I was completely distracted; I just wasn't myself .

2. Act without pretense; be unaffected, sincere. For example, I really enjoy their company because I can be myself with them .

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Example Sentences

But how to be oneself once you’ve put down your phone?

From New York Times

On what she would say to Chisholm, who died in 2005, if she could: “Thank you for doing the hard things. Thank you for making it OK to be oneself.”

From Los Angeles Times

In many online classes, Virginia Woolf’s words would be a good way to start the semester: “I find myself saying briefly and prosaically that it is much more important to be oneself than anything else … Think of things in themselves.”

From Seattle Times

They have given up, to a great extent, the amenities and achievements of civilization: solitude and leisure, the sanction to be oneself, truly absorbed, whether in contemplating a work of art, a scientific theory, a sunset, or the face of one’s beloved.

From The New Yorker

In order for “everything to work out,” one needs not just to be oneself, but to be one’s best self.

From The New Yorker