A philosopher argued 'being yourself' is both a modern ideal and a trap

Charles Taylor argued that the modern ideal of authenticity, the belief that each person has their own unique way of being human that they must discover and live out, is a genuine moral achievement, not mere self-indulgence. But he warned it curdles into shallow narcissism when people treat authenticity as freedom from any obligation to anything beyond their own feelings. His argument tries to rescue 'being true to yourself' from both its critics and its most trivial fans.

— Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity — Harvard University Press, 1991