Who do we really want to be?

Here's an interesting thought to me, being who you really want to be as opposed to who those around you want you to be. I've realized that for a about 5 years now I've been on a journey where I've changed a lot of my views, opinions, and thoughts on things. I really think I was headed toward being a different person, in a good way, but due to certain decisions I made, and the desire to strongly please those around me (and maybe due to a little coercion from a few people), I gave in and started abandoning that journey. Well maybe not totally abandoning it, but I certainly took a detour- even starting to go back to some old opinions and ways of thinking I was trying to leave behind. I can almost entirely attribute this to my desire for acceptance from others, so much so that I think I made my character and real personality take a back seat for a while. My point is, and I don't know if this will make much sense, but I don't think I've completely been the person I've wanted to be for some time, especially in the last year. There's sadness in that realization, but also a large amount of freedom in recognizing it, and giving myself permission to move into that now and be that person. I wonder how hard it will be for some of my friends to accept that. Either way I absolutely have to move forward into this. It's also very healing for me.