The Day I Forgot to Introduce Myself
Last week, I caught myself mid-pattern. Not in a client session. Right in the middle of a networking event, name tag on my chest, room full of people.
And I “ a mindset coach” completely skipped “me”.
The Paper Cuts
"Oh, you're the photographer.""Meet Kapu — she does great photography.""Kapu did my excellent photos."
Each introduction was warm and well-meaning. And each one landed like a small paper cut. Not because photography is something to be ashamed of : I was a photographer, I made people fall in love with themselves, I was proud of it. But I am not “a photographer” now. And with every introduction that reached into my past to define my present, I felt myself shrinking, running.
By the time it was my turn to speak, I had spent so much energy running away from who I used to be that I had nothing left to run toward.
I opened my mouth. I did my spiel and…..
What I Was Really Running From
I wasn't running from photography. I was running from being unseen.
There is a particular loneliness in being known for who you were rather than who you are. The people introducing me weren't wrong, in fact they were extremely well meaning. But, they were working with the information they had. However, old truths, repeated enough times in one evening, start to feel uncomfortable. Not because they were never true, but because you have outgrown them.
The Pattern a Coach Should Recognize
I teach this. I know this.
The energy we spend fleeing an old identity is energy we can't spend moving toward what we actually want. I was so busy defending against the old story that I forgot to tell the new one.
Even coaches are not immune. Knowing the pattern doesn't make you free of it. It just means that eventually “maybe in the moment”, “maybe the morning after” — you recognize it.
What I Would Have Said
Had I coached myself, I would have stepped back, not away from the photographer label, but toward myself:
"I used to capture people's outsides through a lens. Now I help them understand what's happening on the inside. I'm a mindset coach — and honestly, the two aren't that different."
Old story, new story. No apology. No erasure.
I forgot to introduce myself that night. Not my title. Not my work. Myself.
And next time, I'll know exactly who to introduce.
