You write the caption.
Read it.
Delete it.
Write it again.
Then you take the Bible verse out because... I mean, is this really the place for that?
What are people going to think?
Is it too much?
Too personal?
Are they going to think you're trying to use your faith as some kind of marketing angle?
So you rewrite it one more time.
Generic enough to be safe.
Polished enough that nobody could really object to it.
And somehow, by the time you're finished, it doesn't quite sound like you anymore.
Yep.
I lived there for a long time.
For me, faith was one of the things I learned to edit depending on the room I was in.
Sunday morning Shannon?
Faith could be right there in the open.
Monday morning Shannon?
Professional. Polished. Careful.
I wasn't pretending to believe something I didn't believe. I wasn't embarrassed by my faith either.
I just wasn't sure how much of that part of me was allowed to come with me into work.
And honestly, I thought separating the two was probably the mature thing to do.
Be appropriate.
Read the room.
Know your audience.
There's wisdom in that, of course.
Every part of us doesn't belong in every conversation.
But I started realizing there was a difference between using discernment about what I shared...
and editing myself so thoroughly that the person showing up barely felt like me.
That's exhausting.
I know because I did it.
I was spending so much energy deciding which parts of me belonged in which rooms that I never got to simply walk into one as a whole person.
And faith was the obvious place I could see it happening.
But I don't think faith is the only place we do this.
Maybe you soften your opinion because you already know it won't be popular.
Maybe you don't mention the thing you're excited about because nobody else in the room really gets it.
Maybe you're funnier with one group, quieter with another, more polished at work, less ambitious around people who might think you're “too much.”
Maybe you've gotten so good at reading the room that you can become whatever version of yourself works best in it.
And to be clear, I'm not talking about behaving exactly the same way everywhere.
Of course we adjust.
I'm probably not going to talk to my kids' teachers exactly the way I talk to my best friend.
They would have questions.
I'm talking about something quieter.
That little internal edit where you know what you actually think, feel, believe, want or care about...
and decide that version of you might not be received as well.
So you give the room a different one.
For me, eventually the exhausting part wasn't figuring out how to put more faith into my work.
It was realizing I didn't want to keep deciding which parts of me were allowed to come to work at all.
I didn't want a faith-branded business.
I didn't need a Bible verse in every caption.
I wasn't trying to make every conversation a sermon.
I just wanted my work to come from the same person I actually was.
Which meant my faith didn't necessarily have to be something I talked about all the time.
It needed to shape how I worked.
How I treated people.
What I said yes to.
What I wouldn't compromise just because it would be easier.
How I made decisions when nobody else could see them.
How I defined success in the first place.
That felt different.
And, weirdly, a whole lot simpler.
Because I wasn't trying to figure out how to fit faith into my work anymore.
I was letting the same values that mattered to me on Sunday still matter on Monday.
Maybe faith isn't the part of yourself you've been editing.
Maybe for you it's your ambition.
Your creativity.
Your opinions.
Your softness.
Your sense of humor.
The thing you really want.
I don't think every person in our lives is entitled to every part of us.
But I do think there's a difference between choosing what we share...
and slowly becoming whoever we think the room will approve of.
I spent a long time confusing those two.
So maybe the question isn't:
How much of myself should I show here?
Maybe it's:
Am I choosing what to share — or am I changing who I am so I belong?
Because those aren't the same thing.
And I think we can feel the difference.
Want to keep going with this conversation?
🎧 Listen to Episode 3: Faith & Business—Why They’re Not Separate →