Be Yourself
Be Yourself
“I would do anything for you.”
“Would you be yourself?” – Mark Nepo
I’ve said versions of this before—maybe you have too.
I’ll make it work. I’ll compromise. I’ll be what you need me to be. All in the name of love, partnership, belonging.
But somewhere in the fine print of doing anything for someone else… I lost the ability to be myself. I lost my voice. I lost my sense of worth. I lost me.
Many of us can relate to the character of Celeste in the HBO original series “Big Little Lies”.
Celeste has it all—on paper. Wealth, beauty, twin boys, a powerful career she put on hold, and a handsome husband who could flip from charming to dangerous in an instant. Her life was curated. Controlled. And slowly killing her.
Like so many women, she stayed—not because she didn’t know something was wrong—but because she thought love meant enduring. Sacrificing. That being everything for him was the cost of keeping the peace. That shrinking felt safer than shattering.
But the real heartbreak? She wasn’t just trying to protect her children. She was trying to protect the version of herself she thought she had to be. That image of who she had become in the process. Someone who was no longer recognizable and who no longer used her voice.
I’ve lived my own version of this. The details were different—but the trade was the same. I gave up parts of myself to be accepted, to be chosen. I swallowed words that felt too big. I stopped asking for what I really needed. I said yes when everything in me was begging for a no. I played small, soft, agreeable—until I didn’t recognize myself anymore.
Maybe you’ve been there too. Maybe you’re there now. Holding up the fragile structure of a life that’s “fine,” while something deep inside you is quietly whispering “I can’t keep living like this.”
And the truth is: you can’t.
Because the longer you pretend, the farther you drift. Not just from others—but from yourself.
We say, “I would do anything for you.” And maybe we mean it.
But the real question is: Would you still be yourself?
Or would you, like Celeste, like me, give up your voice to keep the peace? Dim your light to avoid the fallout? Sacrifice your truth for the illusion of love?
Because when “doing anything” starts to mean giving up your voice, your joy, your sacred sense of self—what you’re really trading isn’t love. It’s your access to what matters most: your soul. Your truth. What’s in your heart.
The moment you stop asking, “What do they need from me?” and start asking, “What do I need from myself?”—that’s when everything begins to shift.
If you’re feeling the tug of something different—or if the lightning bolt has already struck and you’re standing there, singed but clear—let’s talk.
Schedule a free call with me.
Because yes, you would do anything for them.
But would you be yourself?
