Authenticity

As a recovering people-pleaser, I used to perform who others wanted me to be. Recently, my 14-year-old called me out — and it reminded me: I can adjust, but I won’t go back to masking. Trust and authenticity matter more than polished pretending.

The closer who we are inside matches who we are outside, the happier we are. A simple truth that hit hard after a recent conversation with my son. It reminded me how often the most polished lives can hide the loudest storms — and how costly the gap between appearance and reality can be.

Growth isn’t about pretending the hard things didn’t happen. It’s about letting them shape you without dimming your light — a reminder sparked while hosting my daughter’s birthday party and watching kids be so unapologetically themselves.