The Hidden Damage From Living a Lie

Jake Luehrs
April 18, 2026

ONE QUESTION

Do you attach your happiness to things having to go your way?

ONE THING TO PONDER

Regret can actually be a sign of progress. It means we’ve recognized something and then grown from it.

ONE PERSPECTIVE

If we look at the theme behind every marketing campaign, there is a common thread that works its way into every message….

We’re not good enough, thin enough, smart enough, athletic enough, healthy enough….and they mash that button over and over to make us feel ‘less than.’

As a whole, it seems we’re becoming far less authentic, this is simply my observation and belief….I could be wrong.

We fear being canceled, so we perform.

We fear losing clients, so we hide what we truly think.

We fear losing money, so we lie about who we really are.

So our solution becomes consuming and buying external things that will help us define who we are and that we ARE good enough.

Here’s the challenge…there is no amount of external fabrication and consumption that will fill the empty void inside of us.

We're focused on who we want to become while white-knuckling the safety of who we always have been.

No thing outside of us will ever fix what's happening inside of us.

Because the void we're trying to fill isn't a shopping problem. It's an identity problem. And we cannot solve an identity crisis with a credit card!

So this idea of becoming ‘more’ actually starts with becoming less of who we’re not.

This stretch for titles, for materials, for accolades as a way to define who we are and what we are about is simply an insecure approach to making ourselves feel better.

We can never fully feel ourselves with that approach.

We can wear a mask the rest of our life, but our soul will be screaming while riding shotgun telling us that we’re full of shit.

If we want to build a big business and have alignment along the way, it’s going to require some courage.

We're not protecting ourselves by hiding. We're destroying ourselves.

This isn't about tearing ourselves down.

Becoming more starts with one courageous act…stop being who we are not.

That's not loss. That's liberation.

“You” were never the problem. The mask was.

Onward and Upward!

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