Removing the Mask: Real People, Real Problems

Remove the Mask and Introduce You - to YOUR TRUE SELF.

In the Prologue of Tears of a Lost Soul, 2nd Edition, Lashonder sets the tone with a simple but powerful truth: she is a real person with real problems. This is not a distant story or a sanitized version of pain. It’s raw, honest, and human.

She talks about how people often see the end result—strength, success, healing—but rarely the sleepless nights, the fear, or the quiet moments of questioning whether things would ever change.

This reminder strips away the illusion of perfection. It tells readers, “You’re not alone in your struggles.” Lashonder’s story doesn’t come from a pedestal; it comes from the trenches of lived experience.

Healing the Inner Child: Learning to Nurture the Little You

There comes a time in your healing when you have to stop pretending that the past didn’t hurt you. For years, I wore a mask — smiling, working, and surviving — while inside, a part of me was still crying out for the love, attention, and safety I never received.

It took me a long time to realize that beneath every strong, capable adult lives a child who once needed to be seen, heard, and comforted. That little version of you doesn’t disappear just because you grow up. She waits — quietly — for the day you finally stop running long enough to listen.

Removing the Mask and Meeting Yourself

Healing the inner child starts when you stop performing and start being honest. When I wrote about removing the mask, I wasn’t just talking about pretending to be okay for others — I was talking about facing yourself.

Behind the mask lives a little girl or boy who remembers the moments you’ve tried to forget — the rejection, the fear, the loneliness, the unanswered questions. She or he doesn’t need you to be perfect; she/he needs you to pay attention.

The adult in you must become the safe place that the child in you never had. That’s what true self-love looks like.

🕊️ What Healing the Inner Child Really Means

It doesn’t mean blaming others forever. It doesn’t mean living in your pain. It means giving yourself permission to feel what you once had to suppress just to survive.

It’s writing a letter to the child you once were and saying:

“I see you now. You did nothing wrong. You deserved love then, and you deserve love now.”

It’s choosing to treat yourself gently, even when the world tells you to toughen up. It’s learning to say no when your inner child is tired of being overlooked.

Healing happens the moment you extend compassion inward — when you begin parenting yourself the way you always wished someone had.

💫 Faith, Forgiveness, and Freedom

As I walked through my own healing, I realized that nurturing the inner child also means forgiving those who hurt him or her. Not because they deserve it, but because you deserve peace.

God cannot heal what we keep hidden behind pride or pain. When we let Him into the broken parts of our story — the forgotten corners of our hearts — He restores not just our faith, but our innocence.

Your inner child isn’t a reminder of weakness; it's evidence that you survived. He or she is the root of your resilience and the reflection of your rebirth.

🌷 Take Action

Find a quiet space this week. Close your eyes and imagine your younger self sitting across from you. What does she need to hear? What can you promise her today that no one else could?

Then write it down. That’s where your healing begins.

Continue your healing journey with Tears of a Lost Soul, 2nd Edition — a powerful testimony of faith, pain, and the courage to finally remove the mask.

🌷🌷Take Action 

Drop the mask today. Acknowledge one real issue in your life, and give yourself permission to feel without judgment.

Read the Prologue of Tears of a Lost Soul, 2nd Edition to walk with Lashonder through the first pages of her truth.