The Real Point of Departure

"Honesty is the only way out of the loop we keep living."— James McPartland

Life is full of paradoxes, but the ones that shape us aren’t the clever ones. They’re the ones we’re living without noticing. The biggest truth is this: you can’t reach the destination you aspire to if you start from the wrong place. Most people try to change their life without ever admitting where they actually are. When the starting point isn’t real, the journey becomes a loop.

You can’t leave from a place you’ve never been. Yet leaders pretend all the time. Pretend to have clarity. Pretend to feel confident. Pretend everything is fine. It’s like driving a rental car and pretending it’s yours. You can enjoy it for a while, but eventually you return it. The identities we borrow never hold up.

Life gives us contradictions that seem small but reveal a lot about how we operate. A boxing ring that isn’t a ring. A foul pole that’s fair. A round pizza in a square box. We want change while resisting the work that creates it. We want confidence while broadcasting insecurity. We ask for different circumstances without recognizing that our current situation might be the one meant to grow us.

Identity carries the most powerful paradox of all: if someone loves you only for who you appear to be, they’ll never know who you really are. And here’s the tougher truth: you are not who you think you are. You’re not who others think you are. You are who you think others think you are. Most people lead from that imagined version of themselves, responding to expectations that were never spoken.

The way out begins with honesty. Not performance. Not impressive headlines. Honesty. Tell the truth about where you actually stand. That becomes your real point of departure.

From there, do this:

• Notice where you’re pretending.

• Name the story you’ve been starting from.

• Question whether it’s true or just familiar.

• Choose the next right step, not the dramatic one.

• Move forward from reality, not illusion.

Paradox isn’t the enemy. Avoiding truth is. When you stop pretending and stand in the real place, you finally have somewhere worth leaving and somewhere worth going.

Mac 😎

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