You might be a combination of who YOU are, and who you have been trained to impersonate by well meaning parents and educators.

Most of such training is useful. It keeps you from strangling several people in your life who richly deserve it, but are not worth the social consequences. So part of YOU is a seasoned wisdom that balances pro's and con's for long-term values. The problems come from subconscious bogeymen put in place that no longer has any function. They have left over implied messages:

 "You aren't attractive enough to approach that person"
 "You don't deserve to get paid so much money"
 "Nobody wants to hear what you have to say"
 "Going into unfamiliar territory is dangerous"
 "If you tell, it will hurt your mother"

So, though you are always yourself, the ability to grow and develop and explore may be blocked. A tiger in a cage is not himself, nor is a plant in too small a pot, or a man afraid of disapproval. It is really a case of letting Yourself out.
 

WHY NOT JUST ONE OF THOSE SELFHELP, "UP WITH ME" BOOKS?

Because this is in the subconscious and has nothing to do with what you can decide to do. Willpower doesn't have a chance against subconscious directives.  You don't have time to think before the limitation has already taken hold. It would be like hearing a loud noise and deciding not to jump. The decision you want cannot get there first.

BUT HYPNOSIS IS FOR MAKING PEOPLE INTO SOMETHING THEY AREN'T!

Not at all! Those folks on stage at a hypnosis show are doing just what they want to do. They are demonstrating talents and showmanship no one knew they had, because the stage hypnotist provided a completely accepting atmosphere. The hypnotist relaxes the people until they released the "cannot" from their subconscious minds so they can amaze and captivate the audience.  Importantly, the hypnotist takes full responsibility for the power to do this so the subjects had no fear of failure or success. However, what you see is the release of ability in ordinary people to restructure their responses because they are free to, for a moment of stardom.
 
HOW DO I GET A PERMANENT CHANGE?

Hypnotherapy goes past a temporary block of inhibitions on stage to completely replace negative subconscious responses, not with someone else's idea of positive responses, but yours. In fact, hypnosis can't instill negative responses because it is a gentle, freeing force. Only trauma, fear, and conflict can produce negative responses. Hypnotherapy releases the real You.

Which brings us to the original point. The real you and all your power to achieve are hidden from view in the subconscious. Non-productive behaviors are there too, in the form of chaotic, undirected, protective impulses left over from long past traumas. They pull you in so many contrary directions that life is all struggle and little progress.

These compelling contradictions can cause anything from vague anxieties to insanity. Psychologists discovered glimpses of the subconscious in free association, ink blots, dream analysis, long talks in cozy rooms while relaxing on a couch. There are many methods to get the subconscious reactions to betray themselves in a non-threatening atmosphere. Psychologists do not "fix" anyone by altering their personality; they let the personality get unstuck so it can grow and heal itself.

Hypnosis does all the same things, but much more directly. A hypnotherapist maximizes relaxation and goes straight to the subconscious. Then, instead of hacking at symptoms, the hypnotherapist works on letting the personality assert itself. A person comes to a hypnotherapist for a reason, perhaps to stop smoking. The actual person wants to stop, or he would not be there. When a person is in the relaxed state of hypnosis, the personality, with the help of a therapist, can tiptoe past the sleeping watchdogs and seize the controls.

It takes a few sessions and some practice on your own, however, it certainly is better than years of psychoanalysis.