What lingered beneath the defensiveness was a lack of trust in myself, a sense of not having all the answers, and a fear of people noticing this. When I made the decision to go back to school and dedicate my career to supporting people in their healing, that persistent feeling started to recede, and it has continued to disappear as I step into what I now believe is my purpose. I never actually knew what people were thinking about me. I just created a mean version of other people in my head and used it to torture myself.
