I'm Only Human

Why We Need to Stop Wearing the Superhero Mask

The song Human by Christina Perri came to me during a Reiki Meditation/nap today.

You know how it goes right?... "I'm only human, and I bleed when I fall down..."

I heard it and I felt it.

The truth hit me... because I’ve spent years pretending I’m not. Pretending I’m somehow superhuman. That I can do it all.

I didn't set be this way, it just happened.

I’ve spent a lot of time treating myself like I’m not human. Like I’m some kind of superhuman who can keep going no matter what.

Sure, I’m capable. I’m passionate. I’m creative.

I’ve built a whole business from scratch. And when I’m in creation mode, I light up.

But I also tend to get absorbed, deep in ideas, content, offers, the lot.

It’s not that business has to be that way. It’s just how my brain has operated for a long time.

Overfunctioning, overdoing and overachieving have been my comfort zones.

That’s something I’m actively shifting right now through a series of Advanced Belief Coding® sessions, as well as my relationship with movement.

I’m learning how to find balance.

How to hold my business with care, without it consuming me.

Not that I won't be present or be there 1000% for my clients as I will, but I don't want to keep hustling and burning the midnight oil. 

It's not why I started a business in the first place, which was to have freedom and to be available for my family if they needed me.

Here is the thing, though, I am not blaming starting a business, it's the same energy I brought into my corporate career. Two decades of pushing, proving, and performing. Not because anyone asked me to because I expected it of myself. Those expectations became heavy. The shoulds became a full-time job in themselves.

Even now, most mornings I wake up with a big, beautiful plan of what I want to get done. And when I don’t tick every box, I feel it, the guilt, the frustration, the questioning. I talk a lot about how suffering often lives in the gap between expectation and reality. And yet, here I am, still falling into that gap though. I have lessened the number of times and the impact there is more to release.

Today was a perfect example. I’d had a productive morning. Supported two amazing clients, ran a powerful Advanced Belief Coding® session that helped someone to feel more confident to be seen and heard, shifting emotions held in for decades without release. I helped someone build a custom GPT for their business as they are bloody amazing to use for ourselves and our clients. I checked that my daughter was okay and fed the cats.

I decided to step outside for a bit of Reiki meditation. Now it is hotter than the gates of Hades right now in the UK so maybe the heat zapped me, or maybe it was more, I will find out later as I explore with loving curiosity but what I ended up doing was having a full-on nap.

Two hours. Gone.

And the first thing I felt when I woke up? Guilt.

Because when you’ve worn the superhero mask for years, rest can feel like failure. Like you’ve broken some unspoken rule. Like you should have pushed through.

But I needed that nap. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have had one. My body was speaking, and for once, I listened.

Sometimes, tiredness is just tiredness.

But for me, I also have a strong freeze response, and it can also be a sign that something emotional hasn’t had the chance to move through.

By midlife, we can have a lot of emotions trapped in our body that haven't moved through, old loops still open, moments that were never truly processed, needs that were never fully met.

That’s what today reminded me. I’m not superhuman. I’m human. I don’t need to hold it all, do it all, be it all.

And maybe you needed to hear that too.

Take the mask off. Rest isn’t a weakness. It’s a need.

Give yourself a break, you’re doing better than you think.

What do you do when your body says stop? I’d love to hear below.

[Picture shows a close-up of a toddler with big blue eyes wearing a bright pink superhero mask and matching cape over a white and pink outfit. The child’s light brown hair has soft pink highlights, and they look confidently into the camera with a slight smile. The background is dark, making the pink costume stand out.]