When the Mirror Lies
Steven Leapley
??Helping Men Avoid Overcome or Get Rid of The 10 A-Holes In Life??Mental Health PTSD & Trauma Resilience Strategist??Evangelist | Author | Speaker | Coach | Farmer | Ghostwriter | Dad of 8 | Coffee & Acronym Maven??
Confronting the False Stories You Tell Yourself
I used to look in the mirror and see a fraud.
It didn’t matter what I had accomplished, what people said about me, or how much evidence there was that I was more than enough—because my reflection told me otherwise.
These weren’t just fleeting thoughts. They were truths in my mind—etched into my soul like permanent scars. And no matter what I did, no matter how much success or validation I gathered, those lies never left me.
At least, not until I learned how to confront them.
The Lies We Live By
Every single one of us carries false stories—lies we’ve accepted as truth.
Some of them started in childhood, shaped by words spoken to us when we were too young to know better. Some of them were forged in trauma, carved into our identity when we were at our most vulnerable. Some of them come from rejection, failure, or moments of deep shame that rewrote the way we see ourselves.
We don’t question these stories. We don’t challenge them. We just live by them—as if they’re the unshakable foundation of who we are.
But the worst part? We don’t even realize we’re living in a lie.
I can’t tell you how many years I spent reinforcing my own suffering simply because I had never stopped to ask: Where did this belief even come from?
Instead...
I built my entire life around them:
It never occurred to me that I was playing by a rulebook I never agreed to.
Who Told You That?
I remember a conversation that shook me to my core. Someone I trusted—someone who saw through my walls—asked me:
"Who told you that?"
At first, I brushed it off. “I don’t know. It’s just how I’ve always felt.”
But they pressed harder. Who told you?
And that’s when I realized…
I never sat down and decided to believe those things. I never made a conscious choice to view myself that way.
Those lies were given to me. Passed down like a curse. Spoken by people who were just as broken as I was. Reinforced by a world that profits off of our insecurity.
And yet, I held onto them as if they were mine to keep.
I carried them like a second skin, like a script that had been written before I ever had a chance to edit it.
But that was the moment I realized: I get to choose what I believe.
And so do you.
Breaking the Mirror
The day I confronted those lies, something cracked.
I didn’t suddenly wake up feeling healed. I didn’t instantly see myself differently.
But I began to question.
And questioning is the first step to freedom.
I started asking myself:
And once I asked those questions, the lies began to lose their power.
Because when you shine light on a lie, it can’t survive.
That’s how deception works—it thrives in the dark.
How Do You Rewrite Your Reflection?
If you’ve spent years—maybe even decades—living inside a false narrative, how do you begin to break free?
It starts with awareness.
Because here’s what I learned: Most of the lies we believe are borrowed. They came from somewhere, from someone.
And once you recognize that, you have a choice: Do I keep believing this? Or do I replace it with truth?
It won’t be easy. You’ll have to unlearn years of conditioning. But I promise you, the moment you start rewriting your story, you’ll feel lighter.
The Truth You Need to Hear
So...
Now I’m asking you:
And more importantly—why are you still believing them?
You don’t have to live by a false script. You don’t have to carry words that weren’t meant for you.
You don’t have to look in the mirror and see a lie staring back at you.
You get to rewrite your reflection.
You get to choose what you believe about yourself.
You get to break the cycle.
My Perspective
For too long, I let the mirror define me. I let old wounds and old words tell me who I was.
But not anymore.
I choose truth over lies.
I choose healing over shame.
I choose to see myself as I really am—not as I was told to believe.
And you can, too.
However...
You have to start today.
So here’s my challenge for you:
1?? Drop a comment below: What’s one false belief you’re letting go of today?
2?? Share this with someone who needs to hear that they are more than the lies they’ve been told.
3?? Message me directly. If this hit home for you, let’s talk. I know how hard it is to rewrite your story, but you don’t have to do it alone.
The mirror has lied to you for too long. It’s time to see the truth.
Let’s break the cycle—together.
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Hi! I'm Steven.
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