If I were asked what is the one regret I have, it would be this—
I wasn’t honest in my younger years.

We’re wired to move toward what feels good and avoid what feels painful. For me, lying became a shield—a way to protect myself from the pain I feared would come from rejection, from not being accepted, from not being loved.

I’ve battled insecurity for much of my life, carrying the weight of feeling “not good enough.” I often wished I were different—different talents, a different body, different circumstances. That insecurity led to a lack of honesty. I said what I thought people wanted to hear and avoided vulnerability out of fear they wouldn’t accept the real me. My self-worth became tied to being liked and accepted.

Especially early on in personal relationships, I’d tell stories.
And the thing about stories is—you have to remember them. That creates a mental weight. Little by little, it becomes a source of interference. It wears you down.

Honesty is a mental skill.

It brings peace. It gives you a clean conscience. It helps you pass the pillow test at night, knowing you did your best.

But being honest requires you to be okay with being uncomfortable. It demands vulnerability. It means accepting the possibility of rejection. And to do that—you have to love yourself.

I believe the greatest Mind Strength skill you can ever develop is self-love.

It’s the foundation of a beautiful life. It’s the key to inner mastery. It’s at the core of Mind Strength.

The moments in my life when I’ve truly loved and accepted myself are the moments the handcuffs of anxiety come off, the need to be someone I’m not disappears, and the thing we’re all searching for sets in—peace.

I’ll close with a poem I wrote in a moment of inner angst, and the clarity I found in it:

“Who cares what they think? I surely do.
Every move I’ve made, I thought of the review.
How will I look? And what will they say?
Will I win their approval and love for one more day?
Why do I do this? How can it be?
Does it all stem from a deep root of a lack of love for me?
And if this is so… How then do I grow?
The answer becomes clear…
Start loving the man who is standing in the mirror.”

This journey of self-love, like all of Mind Strength, is a daily pursuit. A worthy one. One that I’m still on.

Peace doesn’t come from pretending to be something you’re not. It comes from choosing honesty, embracing who you are, and loving yourself through it all.

That’s the real strength. That’s Mind Strength.