When Avoidance Wears a Crown 👑
"We suffer more in imagination than in reality." — Seneca
I used to sit in rooms where no one listened,
convinced my silence was mistaken for mystery,
not absence.
I mistook being overlooked
for being above.
Turns out, no one was thinking about me
at all.
I was never too much,
just not enough
to matter.
“What’s a hard truth your ego refuses to accept?”
Here’s one of mine:
I spent years mistaking productivity for self-worth.
If I wasn’t building, proving, achieving, then I felt like a failure. But that wasn’t ambition talking. That was shame in a business suit.
My ego was terrified of stillness because in stillness, it couldn’t perform. And if it couldn’t perform, it couldn’t protect me.
That illusion broke the moment I hit burnout. I was flat, depleted, staring at my screen wondering why I still felt behind. Even after checking every box.
That’s how ego works. It’s crafty. It camouflages itself in values it thinks you admire. Discipline, loyalty, strength. And uses them to bury the thing you’re not ready to face.
Sometimes the hardest truths are the ones that sound just a little too noble.
These small notes arrive quietly,
like morning light through a cracked window.
No noise. Just truth.
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Try this journal prompt:
What truth have you resisted because accepting it might collapse an identity you’ve built your life around?
Let yourself write the uncomfortable version.
That version is the key.
Growth doesn’t always begin with revelation.
It often begins with resistance.
So if something inside you flinched reading this…
Good.
That’s not weakness. That’s the door creaking open.
Step through.
You’ve outgrown the version of you who needs to pretend.
Let’s get honest.
What’s a truth you’ve avoided?
What part of your story did your ego edit to protect your pride?
If you feel safe, share it below. You might find someone else living a similar lie, ready to finally tell the truth.
If you’re here, you’re part of something real, something that holds space for healing without the need to perform. I don’t take that lightly.
If this space feels like home.
If it holds your ache, your becoming, your breath.
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If you think these gentle words cut deep, wait until you read Shadow Thoughts. That’s where I let the truth bleed without cleaning it up for anyone.