Step 12 Day 1: When I’m Not Performing, Who Am I? Live your truth

When I stop performing, what’s left is my truth, and she’s free.

These days, I ask myself many questions. But not in an anxious way — in a checking-in-with-my-soul way.

Before I post something… before I explain myself… before I say yes, no, or tell someone how I feel… I pause and ask:

Am I doing this for external validation?Am I doing this to change someone else’s behavior?Am I doing this to get something in return?

If the answer is yes, I take a breath. Not because those answers are wrong, but because they signal I might be stepping out of alignment with my true self.

When I strip away all of that, the performance, the gentle manipulation, the people-pleasing, the over-explaining, what’s left is me. Just me. With my values. With my voice. With my truth.

That’s the work of Step 12. Not shouting your story from the rooftops, but living your truth so clearly, so consistently, that your life becomes the message — whether anyone “likes” it or not.

A Slice of Humble Pie: When you stop trying to be understood, admired, or forgiven, what remains is the version of you that is finally free.

Reflection: What’s one thing you’ve said or done recently that came from truth, not performance? What might shift if you stopped trying to earn love and started embodying your worth?

Affirmation: When I strip away performance, what remains is my truth, and that is enough.

I invite you to notice where you’re still performing for love or approval. What might change if you trusted your truth to be enough without applause?