So, what should I do? What does it mean to be yourself, while trying to change?

Do you normally wear giant purple fluffy hats with large feathers protruding out of them? Probably not. If you knew that the girl you were interested in specifically liked seeing giant purple fluffy hats with large feathers protruding out of them, would you acquire such a hat at approach her claiming the hat is honestly part of your normal wardrobe? Your answer should also be no.

Being yourself means not try to act like someone you aren’t to try to appeal to someone else. The main reason is that its not really a reflection of who you are, and if the girl is successfully attracted to you when you something fake, its not you they are attracted to, its the fake thing. So thats the “be yourself” part.

Now the “while trying to change” part. You don’t have to have a laundry list of your faults ready to rattle off to the girl you’re talking to for the very first time. However, as the relationship progresses, you can start to be honest about some shortcomings you have of yourself, and your actions to try to improve. Something like “By this age I should be able to pay all my bills on time, but just this last month I paid the electric bill two days late even though I had the money already. Its something I’m working on. A year ago every single one of my bills was late and my water was almost shut off from non-payment. I’m happy with my progress, but I’m not at the finish line yet”.

A note for the “trying to change”: That part should never end in your life. You should constantly try to be better version of yourself (as you define it). It doesn’t mean you should require yourself to have massive successes in life year after year, that’s just not realistic. The path should always be toward “better” though. Again, “better” is however you define it (this is part of “being yourself”). While an obvious goal might be graduating from college, another equally valid goal could be to commit and follow through practicing the guitar for 30 minutes a week, or possibly even never leaving your socks on the floor. Life will come at you and knock you down sometimes, and that may affect the short term results of your “no left out socks” goal, but its important to stand up again and get back on track.

You’ll get older and what is important will change for you too. You get to constantly re-adjust what your goals are. This is the fun part of life! Your goals are your own. What you choose has a feedback loop of defining and reinforcing the “being yourself” part.