If you're finding something meaningful in these weekly episodes, check out Calm It Down deeper,

as you'll also get access to the morning affirmations, two minutes of morning affirmations

every weekday to encourage you to put the first foot on the floor out of bed.

Check it out at commentdownpodcast.com and look for deeper.

There are two versions of you, the one people see, and the one you are when no one's looking.

The you that shows up to dinner parties, smiling and making small talk,

and the you that sits alone afterward, exhausted from performing.

The you that posts a highlight real,

and the you that lives in the ordinary, messy, unremarkable middle. The gap between these two versions? It's actually wider than you think. In carrying

both, ugh, it's exhausting. Am I alone in this?

Let's find out.

I'm Chad Lawson and let's comment down in three, two, one.

We all do this.

We curate. We edit.

We present a version of ourselves that feels safe and acceptable, even manageable.

Not because we're lying, no, but because the real version feels too complicated to explain.

It's just too raw and too messy and, let's be honest, too much. So we smooth out the edges.

We hide the parts that don't quite fit the story.

We perform the person we think people want to see.

And somewhere in all of that performing, we lose track of who we actually are.

And the gap between who you are and who you pretend to be, it takes energy.

Energy to remember which version you showed to which person. Energy to keep the story straight, to maintain the image,

...