Every Morning the Same
Where do i go when everyone comes to me by Reg Lenney - Rijooviness
The alarm. The weight in my chest before I even open my eyes.
Phone in hand before my feet hit the floor. Markets slipping. Wars expanding. Another CEO gone. Another headline proving the ground beneath us is cracking faster than anyone dares admit.
The knot in my stomach tightens. The dull ache at the base of my skull presses harder. Pills can mute it, coffee can disguise it, but nothing stops it.
Shower. Tie. Mask.
That’s the ritual. Step into the suit, step into the role, step into the version of me the world expects.
But each day, it’s harder to keep the mask from breaking.
I’ve watched the pattern unfold. Brilliant men and women — leaders of empires, icons of industry — collapsing under the weight of the very systems they built.
The headlines spell it out, even if no one says it directly:
646 CEOs stepped down in the first months of 2025 — the largest wave in two decades.
73% of C-suite leaders live in exhaustion, even as boards demand more.
Burnout is now the #1 reason executives leave — hidden behind the phrase “strategic transition.”
Wealthy families admit their greatest crisis isn’t money, but meaning.
We all see it. We all feel it.
And still, the machine says: smile, patch it, keep moving.
I swore it wouldn’t be me.
But if I’m honest, I can already feel the slope beneath my feet.
Who do I go to, when everyone comes to me?
Who holds the weight for me, when showing weakness invites the knives?
I’ve tried.
The highest-rated specialists. The coaches. The endless certifications.
They talk. They nod. They prescribe. They brand themselves as answers.
But in the silence, when it’s just me, the weight is still there. And worse — the few times I’ve let the mask slip, it’s been used against me. As leverage. As judgment. As weakness.
So I stop trying.
I cancel the sessions. I take the shortcut. I down the pill.
And when that dulls, I chase the next circle, the next fad, the next distraction that promises to numb the noise. Sometimes it excites me. Sometimes it masks the pain. But it never lasts.
The knot always returns. The headache always returns.
And the whisper never leaves.
The world thinks I’m winning.
But inside, the silence is costing me everything.
I don’t admit the fear in my chest.
I don’t confess the sleepless nights.
I don’t let anyone see that the empire I’ve built feels hollow from the inside out.
Because if I admit it — to myself, to anyone — what then?
So I push harder. I patch faster. I tell myself legacy will catch me when I fall.
But history already proves the truth: No one escapes the collapse when the human foundation breaks.
The ancients knew this.
They carved it into stone, sang it into hymns, passed it from master to student in temples now lost to dust:
that no empire survives when the human spirit collapses.
That wealth without wisdom turns to ash.
That legacy without soul disappears with the turning of a page.
We have built monuments, markets, and machines — yet forgotten the oldest truth of all: a world cannot be led by fractured men and hollow women.
The collapse is not coming. It is already here.
And the only ones who will endure are those with the courage to stop, to listen, to return to the wisdom deeper than profit, faster than progress, stronger than fear.
My body knows it.
My soul knows it.
This is not about winning or losing.
Not about wealth or poverty.
But about remembering or forgetting.
And now, the whisper will not leave.
It will wait at the edge of every boardroom, every sleepless night, every quiet morning when the mask grows heavy.
Because once it is heard, it cannot be silenced.
Can a simple meeting change anything?
Can one phone call make a difference?
There is only one way to find out.
Book a private conversation : https://calendly.com/rijooviness/60-minute-private-session-with-reg
#LeadershipCrisis #ExecutiveBurnout #WealthAndLegacy #FutureOfLeadership #SilentStruggle #LegacyLeadership #GlobalShift
