We’ve all done things we’re not proud of.

But there’s a certain kind of act—not regretted after, but hidden as it’s happening. The kind that makes your shoulders tense and your soul retreat. You become small in your own eyes. You shrink into the shadows of your own conscience, hoping no one sees.

That feeling came rushing back while watching the Astronomer CEO and HR scandal unfold on social media. Two high-ranking professionals caught mid-act—cheating on their spouses—at a Coldplay concert.

What struck me wasn’t the act itself. People make mistakes. People fall in love. People betray. Life is complicated.

What was shocking was the look on their faces.
The look of someone caught in the act.
The look of guilt written all over them.
The look of two human beings instantly aware that they had become thieves in their own story.

And that brings me to this haunting realization:

Why do we act in ways that make us feel like thieves in our own lives?

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The Inner Courtroom

It doesn’t matter what the imposed morality says.
It doesn’t even matter what society thinks.
What matters is the court within.

That invisible courtroom inside you—where the judge is your soul and the jury is your conscience—always knows.
Even when no one’s watching.
Especially when no one’s watching.

If an act makes you feel guilty as you’re doing it, that’s your inner compass telling you: “This is not aligned with your truth.”

We’ve mistaken freedom for secrecy. We think we’re free when we can do things without getting caught.
But the real question is:

Would you do it if the whole world were watching?

If the answer is no, then the act itself is a kind of theft.
You’re stealing from your own integrity.
You’re stealing from the version of you that could’ve stood tall in broad daylight.

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Why Do We Act Against Our Conscience

Carl Jung said, “What you resist, persists.” If we suppress our desires, our darker longings, our untamed sides — they don’t go away. They just find twisted, secretive ways to express themselves. That’s often how affairs, addictions, and self-sabotage begin — not because someone is evil, but because their shadow was neglected too long.

The solution is not to deny the shadow — but to become conscious of it, integrate it, and act from a place of responsible truth.

Maybe this CEO and HR head didn’t need to suppress their desires. Maybe they could’ve had the courage to deal with their personal situations first, and then come together openly — with honesty, not secrecy. But maybe they, like countless others, were just an escape for each other, trying to fill their inner voids through the whole situation.

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Living in a Way You’re Not Afraid to Be Seen

This is the insight I’ve been chewing on:

Don’t do things you need to hide.
Don’t say things you can’t stand by.
Don’t live a double life.

This doesn’t mean you owe the world your privacy. Not at all. We all deserve boundaries.
But it means: Can you look yourself in the mirror and smile?
Can you face your friends, your lover, your family, your God—and not flinch?

There’s something deeply powerful about living a transparent life.
A life that doesn’t require pretending to be someone else in front of different people.

I don’t mean perfection. I mean coherence.
I mean truth.
I mean peace.

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Conclusion: Become Someone You’re Proud To Be

We will all mess up. That’s part of the game.
But the real tragedy is not the mistake.
It’s living in a way that makes you afraid to be seen.

The moment you start doing things that shrink your soul, that make you avoid eye contact with yourself—that’s the moment to stop.
To pause.
To ask: “What kind of person am I becoming?”

The world doesn’t need you to be a saint.
But your soul needs you to be real.

Don’t live like a thief.
Don’t love like a liar.
Don’t succeed like a fraud.

Live in a way that, even if the whole world found out—
you’d still stand tall.