There’s a quiet kind of exhaustion that comes from looking successful on the outside but feeling empty on the inside. I knew how to smile in the boardroom. I knew how to show up strong in ministry. I knew how to hold everything together for everyone else. But behind the titles, the faith, the qualifications… I was in survival mode. And here’s what I believed back then and maybe you’ve told yourself the same thing: I thought that being silent was strength. I thought that being vulnerable was a weakness. I thought that asking for help meant I had failed. I thought that my life should’ve been perfect since I was holding everything together and being everything to everyone but myself. It wasn’t. I remember looking in the mirror one day and barely recognising the woman I became staring back. I had the picture. But I didn’t have me. This was my picture and maybe it is yours: A woman dragging a suitcase so heavy she can’t stand straight. Inside it: perfectionism, fear of judgement, the ‘I’ve got it all’ image, the obligation to always be strong. Now imagine that woman stopping in the journey she finally realised it was a misaligned one. Dropping it… finally. Taking one honest, deep breath. I remember looking in the mirror one day and barely recognising the woman staring back. I had the picture. But I didn’t have me. That was the breaking point. And in my breaking, I whispered: “God, help.”And I heard: “Do not give up on God.” It wasn’t the end. It was the beginning. The beginning of a life unstuck, from miracle after miracle. It was the beginning of healing, of clarity, of discovering how to live from wholeness instead of survival. It was the beginning of living from rest. If you’ve been wearing strength like a mask while quietly breaking inside…If you keep telling yourself “this is just how life is” but something inside knows there’s more… This is what I’ve learned:You are not weak for wanting more. You’re not broken - you’re burdened. Pretending might hold things together for a season, but you don’t have to because transformation begins the moment you decide to stop pretending.