You Are Not Just Tired, They Lied to You
A Sacred Rebellion Against the Performance-Driven Life – And a Return to the Self You Were Never Meant to Abandon
Your phone vibrates with demands disguised as opportunities. The world shouts, “Come on, you can do it, just push a little more!” Emails pile up. Social media scrolls on, everyone else seeming productive and happy. You drag yourself out of bed and think, Maybe I just need a better routine, more discipline, a more positive attitude. But a quiet voice inside you whispers a truth that perhaps no one has told you: You are not just tired.
You are soul-weary. And it’s not your fault. In a society that measures our worth by our output, feeling exhausted and empty isn’t a glitch, it’s almost a given. No one may have put chains on your wrists, but still you feel captive. Captive to expectations, to the endless to-do list, to the pressure to be “good enough.” If you’ve felt this, you’re not alone. So many of us are present everywhere, for our jobs, for our families, for our online personas, everywhere except within ourselves.
I write today for the seekers and the silently disillusioned. For those who have worked so hard to play by the rules – the devoted employees, A+ students, caring parents, even faithful churchgoers and who still find themselves inwardly burned out, anxious, hungry for something that success and sermons never delivered. This message is for you who lie awake at night feeling strangely guilty for being exhausted. Something inside you is screaming that this way of living isn’t sustainable.
Let’s speak the unspoken: They lied to you. Not out of malice, perhaps – it’s a lie they were told too. But the promise was false. They said, “If you work hard and never quit, you’ll be fulfilled.” They insisted, “Stay positive, stay busy, that’s the key to a good life.” They told you that you could be anything, achieve anything and forgot to mention the hidden trap: if you fall short, you’ll quietly believe you alone are to blame. They urged you to always be your “best self,” but somehow “best” came to mean never quite enough.
So you tried. Oh, how you tried. You chased the standards of a society drunk on productivity. You tried to be a perfect performer, at work, in relationships, even in your personal growth. Yet here you are: exhausted, empty, and wondering what went wrong. This isn’t laziness or personal failure; it is what we will call, “The collapse of an entire way of life.” Constant performance is a wolf that wears the sheep’s clothing of “personal freedom.” In truth, it has devoured our joy, our spontaneity, our very sense of self.
I see you. I have walked that same endless road, until my spirit nearly broke. But on the other side of breakdown, I discovered something liberating: We were never meant to live like this. No creature can run without rest; no heart can swell with love when it’s weighed down by fear and guilt. The burnout, anxiety, and quiet despair so many feel today are not private aberrations, they are collective symptoms of a culture that has forgotten how to simply be.
What does it mean to “simply be”? It sounds so ordinary, yet in this age it’s revolutionary. It means remembering you are a human being, not a human doing. It means reclaiming the part of you that doesn’t need to earn the right to exist. Imagine for a moment: turning off the phone and stepping outside at dawn, breathing in the new day without any urge to capture or optimize it. Imagine reading a book for no purpose other than pleasure, or sitting with a friend with no agenda at all. There is a subtle terror that bubbles up at first – the terror of “I should be doing something.” But beyond it lies a peace you’ve long forgotten. A peace that whispers: “This is what life is supposed to feel like.”
I wrote They Lied to You to help you rediscover that peace and freedom – the kind that no one can give or take away, because it’s your birthright. This book is a journey of unlearning the toxic myths of Western hustle culture and reawakening a deeper truth within you. It’s not a manual telling you to quit your job and meditate on a mountaintop (though hey, if that calls to you, go for it!). It’s a companion, a mirror held up to all the ways we’ve been quietly coerced into betraying ourselves and a map back to an authentic life.
In these pages, you’ll find the words of a fellow traveler who, like Alan Watts, has seen the absurdity of turning life into a winner-takes-all race, and who, like Anthony De Mello, gently calls you to wake up from the trance. You’ll learn how the “invisible imperative of performance” has infiltrated even our leisure and spiritual practices, turning meditation into a competition and prayer into a plea for approval and how we can take back the sacredness of our existence from these distortions.
Most importantly, They Lied to You offers a path to healing the burnout of your soul. It guides you to do the unthinkable in today’s world: to stop, to breathe, and to listen to that small, scared, wise voice within. You’ll discover the power of what I call the sacred “No” – the courage to set boundaries and reclaim your time and sanity. You’ll be reminded of the joy of missing out on the noise so you can say yes to what truly matters. Page by page, we will practice the radical art of being present, that state of grace where life is not a task to complete but a gift to savor.
This journey isn’t just about you or me individually; it’s becoming a movement. I’ve felt it in the conversations with friends who confess they can’t keep up the facade, in the eyes of strangers who nod in weary agreement when I speak these truths at events. We are a generation (in fact, generations) of seekers forging a new spiritual path beyond the tired scripts. Some have left rigid religions and found themselves worshiping work instead, trading one altar for another. Some have never had a spiritual home at all and feel adrift. To all, I extend an invitation: let’s create a new sanctuary right here in our lives, built on presence, compassion, and authenticity.
Imagine a world where:
We treat rest as sacred, not slothful.
We honor each person not for their social media shine or resume, but for their unique being, their soul.
Love and connection count more than likes and accomplishments.
We can finally breathe, knowing there is nothing to prove, ever.
This isn’t a utopian fantasy or fluffy self-help promise. It’s a return to something ancient and simple. It’s what wise teachers throughout history have hinted at in different words: the Kingdom of Heaven within you, nirvana in the here and now, the Tao of effortless being. In our modern tongue, in They Lied to You, I call it freedom, true spiritual freedom from the inside out. It feels like coming home to yourself.
If your heart aches reading this, if tears prick your eyes because finally someone put into words what you’ve felt, then my friend, They Lied to You was written for you. It’s the light I wish I’d had in my darkest, most depleted nights. It’s the gentle shake on the shoulder saying, “Wake up, you’re okay. Life can be beautiful again, right here, outside the hamster wheel.”
Today, I’m thrilled (and humbled) to announce that They Lied to You is available for preorder. By ordering now, you’re not just buying a book, you’re joining a growing community of kindred souls determined to break the chains of performance culture and reclaim the present moment. You’re saying yes to a journey that leads you back to yourself.
Preordering sends a message: that this message matters, that we’re ready for a saner, more loving world. It would mean the world to me, but more importantly, I believe it will mean the world to you, as the insights begin to unfold in your life. Keep an eye on your inbox; I’ll be sharing excerpts and behind-the-scenes glimpses in the coming weeks with everyone who preorders, so we can start this journey together even before the book ships.
In a society that urges us to “do more, be more, grab more,” choosing to step back and simply be is a radical act. It’s nothing less than a quiet revolution of the spirit. I invite you to take that step with me. Let’s renounce the lies. Let’s slow down and breathe again. Let’s remember what it feels like to watch the clouds roll by without anxiety gnawing at our guts. Let’s reclaim our laughter, our curiosity, our love, those birthrights that were never truly lost, only buried under the rubble of “shoulds” and “musts.”
They lied to you about who you are and what you’re worth. It’s time to uncover the truth. You are enough. You always were. And the life waiting for you – the one where you live boldly and peacefully as your authentic self, is more beautiful than what any lie could promise.
Come join me in this Sacred Rebellion of Being. Preorder your copy of They Lied to You today, and take the first step toward home.
Preorder the book here - https://www.wroteby.me/django/books/677
With love and freedom,
Django De Gree, II