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She’s polished. She’s sharp. She knows how to win.

She can read a room in three seconds flat, make herself palatable to any audience, and deliver results under pressure like it’s a reflex.

She’s impressive. She’s respected. Hell - she might even be envied.

But here’s the part no one sees: she was built in response to danger, not desire.

That version of you? The one who can do it all, lead the meeting, close the deal, manage the chaos, and still smile at the end of the day?

She was forged in the fire of fear - not in the frequency of freedom.

And now she’s the very thing keeping you stuck.

This is the episode where we dismantle the performance mask - not with fluff. Not with vague affirmations. But with surgical precision.

Because if you want to rise into real power, the mask has to come off.

Let’s begin.

So let’s name it. I always find it easier to dismantle the negative nonsense in our minds if we name it.

The performance mask doesn’t always look like pretending. It often looks like excellence.

But none of it is rooted in truth. It’s survival coded as success.

“Holding it all together” is just internal collapse with good PR. You look unshakable - while quietly negotiating your own exhaustion.

And the wild thing is: you’re not lying. You really are that capable. But it’s not your capability that’s killing you. It’s the belief that you can never not perform.

The mask didn’t appear overnight.  It was assembled - piece by piece - through shame, rejection, abandonment, and expectation.

You got the message early. Maybe no one said it out loud - but it was loud nonetheless.

Your sensitivity? Too much. Your ambition? Intimidating. Your truth? Inconvenient. Your voice? Only welcome when it matched what they wanted to hear.

So you made a decision - one your nervous system remembers like scripture:

“I will become what they can handle. I will survive this, even if I have to abandon who I really am to do it.”

And so began the construction of a version of you designed to win approval without making waves.

You became palatable - always saying the right thing, never showing too much, learning to self-edit in real time. You became predictable - someone they could count on, lean on, offload onto - because being reliable made you safe. You became powerful - but not threatening - strong enough to lead, but soft enough not to intimidate. Controlled. Capable. Contained.

It wasn’t about success. It was about survival through acceptance.

But here’s what no one told you: the self you built to be loved will eventually become the cage that keeps you from being fully seen.

Because the moment you outgrow the version of you built for others…you either burn the mask, or you burn out wearing it.

And if you're here - listening to this - you already know which choice it's time to make.

You crafted her with precision:

Because if you were undeniable, no one could abandon you again. And here’s the thing: that mask? She worked. She got you here. She helped you survive rooms that were never built for your truth.

But you’re not surviving anymore. You’re building. Leading. Scaling. And the mask? She’s outlived her usefulness.

You can’t embody leadership while hiding in a persona. You can perform authority. You can simulate confidence. You can project control.

But embodiment? Embodiment requires exposure. It requires you to actually be the thing - without the protection.

Because the truth is: power isn’t performative. It’s internal.

And if you’re still filtering your expression…if you’re still editing your truth to make it more digestible…if you're curating your tone, your words, your energy - so no one gets uncomfortable, offended, or “concerned”...you’re not leading. You’re shape-shifting. And shape-shifting is spiritual suffocation in slow motion.

It looks like leadership. It sounds like command. But it feels like fragmentation.

Because every time you choose performance over presence…every time you adjust your truth to protect someone else's perception…you reinforce a subconscious lie that’s been running your life since girlhood:

“Who I am, as I am, is not safe.”
“My full expression will cost me.”
“It’s better to be accepted than to be true.”

That’s not leadership. That’s emotional exile.

And here’s the catch: you can build a business, a brand, even a public persona on that mask - but it won’t feel like yours.  It will feel heavy. Hollow. Misaligned. Because the moment you have to perform to maintain power…you’ve already lost it.

Real leadership doesn’t live in perfection. It lives in permission - the internal permission to be fully seen, fully felt, and fully expressed.

Not to please. Not to provoke. But to be - uncurated, unapologetic, and unshakable.

The longer you delay that kind of embodiment, the longer you postpone the leadership you were born to wield.

And nothing burns out a woman faster than having to shrink in order to lead.

So how do we start dismantling the mask? We don’t rip it off. We honor her first.

Here’s your ritual:

Step 1: Name her. Who is the version of you that wears the mask? What’s her role? Her tone? Her posture? What does she fear?

Step 2: Describe her. Give her a voice. Write her story. Get to know her fully. You created her for a reason - and she’s earned your respect.

Step 3: Thank her. She protected you. She helped you navigate trauma. She bought you time and space to evolve. She deserves closure - not condemnation.

Step 4: Release her. Close your eyes and speak - unedited, unfiltered - as your true self for two full minutes. Say the thing you’ve never allowed yourself to say out loud. Let it land. Let it shake. Let it breathe.

Do this daily. No script. No performance. Just voice to power - until it becomes your new baseline.

This isn’t cute. It’s sacred. This is how identity recalibration begins.

Now, I want you to put this into practice.

Choose one place this week to show up raw and real. Not reckless. Not messy for the sake of drama. But real.

Maybe it’s a team call. Maybe it’s your social feed. Maybe it’s that email you keep editing to sound more “professional.”

This time - show up as you. Not the curated version. Not the one trying to maintain the image.

Say the thing. Show the edge. Breathe before you respond. Take up space without explaining.

And then? Watch what amplifies - and what falls away.

Because the things you lose when you drop the mask? You were never meant to carry them anyway.

You don’t need to get louder. You don’t need to perform bolder. You don’t need to earn your way into the next level You just need to show up as the woman underneath the mask.

She already knows how to lead. She just needs your permission to stop hiding.

If you’re ready to take this deeper - if you want a space where the mask comes off and the real work begins -  come join us inside the Rewired to Rise™ Facebook Group.

This is where high-performing women stop performing.  Where power recalibration isn’t just a concept - it’s a daily practice. We don’t do fluff. We do identity. Clean. Honest. Unfiltered.

Inside, you’ll get:

This isn’t just another group. It’s your calibration chamber.

Join us now at 👉 facebook.com/groups/rewiredtorisepodcast

Step inside. Drop the mask. Let’s build your next level from truth.