I’m a motivational speaker. And one of my top priority areas of human focus is our obsession about impressing others, looking good, the masks we wear, and the real person who lies behind those masks.
The only voice that matters is YOURS!
We spend our lives collecting validation—likes and follows from strangers, compliments from friends, titles on business cards, pats on the back from bosses. All well-meaning. But there comes a moment when none of that matters. Because there’s only one voice you can’t outrun: your own.
When that moment comes, it’s just you and the mirror. Who do you see? Do you like the person looking back?
The face in the mirror doesn’t care how many followers you have, what your business card says, how many zeros you have in your bank account, or if you made the 40 under 40 list.
She/he cares if you sold out.
This poem isn’t just about self-respect. It’s about congruence – alignment between who you are, what you do, and how you show up. Most people never get there because it means burning down the life they built for someone else’s approval.
Two quotes from others.
1.
Author Bronnie Ware from her book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.
"The top regret of the dying is: I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me".
2.
Playwright, novelist and poet Oscar Wilde from his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
"Popularity is for mediocre people."
One question for you.
Are you living your truth, or someone else’s expectation?
