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The Critique Cage

You can be brilliant. Kind. Overqualified. Spiritually sound and emotionally intelligent.

You can be delivering miracles on a Tuesday morning and still, someone will side eye you, shrink you, or find a way to make you the problem.


Why?

Because you’re not being judged on your character.

You’re being judged through the lens of their insecurities.

Their imposter syndrome.

Their unhealed stuff.

Their quiet fear that your confidence exposes their doubt.


Read that again.

You are not being evaluated on your work ethic.

Or your heart.

Or your results.


You are being filtered through their stuff Their comparison. Their internalized scarcity. Their fear that your shine might dim theirs.


And if you are not careful? You’ll start playing defense against battles that were never yours to begin with. This is why applause can’t be your compass and critique can’t be your cage.


Let’s sit with that.

If applause is your compass, you will start navigating your life around other people’s comfort zones.

You will chase their validation instead of your vision.

You will shrink when you should rise, and over explain when you should walk away.


And if critique is your cage? You will stay stuck. Second guessing. Editing yourself in real time.

Reading every room like it holds the power to decide if you’re safe to be seen.


You will never feel free enough to show up fully. Because someone is always going to have something to say.


So what’s the alternative?


You build an internal GPS. One that’s guided by your values, your truth, your purpose.

One that remembers your worth isn’t up for debate. Other people’s projections are not your responsibility.


You don’t have to manage how your presence makes someone else feel.

That is their work not yours.


You don’t have to apologize for your confidence.

Or dull your insight.

Or pretend you’re not ready just because someone else is intimidated by readiness.


You don’t have to carry their discomfort.

You don’t have to twist yourself into a softer version just to make them feel more capable.


You can be empathetic without shape shifting.

You can be self aware without self erasing.


Let people think what they need to think.


You’ve got things to build.

Healing to honor.

Energy to protect.

A legacy to create.


So how do you keep showing up?


You remind yourself, daily, that peace comes from alignment, not approval. That being misunderstood is a small price to pay for being in integrity.

That authenticity is always worth the awkwardness.


You keep doing the work. You keep showing up.


And when someone’s judgment starts to creep in and plant doubt?


You pause.

You breathe.

And you say That’s not mine to carry.


Then you keep it moving.

Head high.

Values intact.


Because this life?

It’s not about how well you fit into someone else’s insecurities.

It’s about how boldly you show up in your own truth.

ღ Chi


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