Being Seen: The Soul Work Behind Visibility
The soul-level truth behind why putting yourself out there feels so hard
We hear it everywhere now: Get visible. Put yourself out there. Let people find you.
From a marketing perspective, visibility is simple. Be online. Share what you do. Have an opinion and own it. Be consistent. Make it easy for people to know you exist.
So why does something that sounds so straightforward feel so hard?
In theory, it’s like opening a small store and putting up a sign: I sell organic strawberries. They’re good for your health. you should buy them.
You’re clear about what you offer. You have an opinion about it. And you don’t hesitate to say so and you invite people to buy from you.
But at some point, it stops being about the strawberries.
When what you offer is inseparable from who you are.
Visibility is simple. Being seen is not.
The strategy is the same, the action itself is simple, and yet it’s so painful. If visibility were only about logistics, no one would struggle this much.
A lot of people fear getting visible, and many others fear even admitting they fear being visible. It's such a deeply rooted sign of fragmentation in our human existence that I dare to say all of us experience a flavor of that.
But being visible is much deeper than how most people approach it. Being seen is usually treated as a feature of the ego.
Some people relate visibility to the desire of being approved, validated, and admired. Those are capacities of our ego, but being seen is a faculty of our soul.
When visibility is approached from the surface, it feels very egoic, like the need to show off. The existence of surface-level visibility makes deeper visibility feel unsafe, misunderstood, or undesirable for many people.
If a soul did not need to be seen, it would have no reason to incarnate.
And that’s why it’s so hard.
Because being seen is actually a form of peeling the layers we created to hide our own light, the layers of protection that keep us safe.
The layers weren’t created to hide our light consciously. They were created to survive when our light wasn’t safe.
These layers aren’t mistakes. They are intelligent responses to real experiences.
And visibility asks us to meet that edge.
The fear of being seen is not vanity. It is the memory of what happened the last time we were real.
This is what “get visible” really points to: deep inner work, disguised as a marketing strategy.
The action itself is simple.
But who you are becoming in the process is the real work. And becoming often brings us back into emotions we once decided we would never feel again.
So when you fear being seen or putting your work out into the world, it’s not because your ego needs attention.
It’s because something essential has been suppressed for so long that the nervous system tightens at the mere thought of being visible.
The body freezes. Not because it wants approval, but because expression once came with consequences.
Choosing to share your work or stand by your perspective is not an egoic act.
Across the ancient traditions I’ve studied, I haven’t found teachings that ask us to deny our nature or hide our truth.
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” (Matthew 5:14)
The real question, then, isn’t how to get visible, but how to meet visibility without overriding the body’s intelligence.
We all have a natural way of being, and in essence it’s joy and ease. It doesn’t come from force. So yes, you can move through the resistance of being seen by suppressing your emotions and getting it done.
The action is there.
You might not get the result, and more than that, you did not enjoy the action itself. And in many ways, that’s the only thing we have, the result is never guaranteed.
So if you’re ready to meet more of your soul through your business, I’ll share with you a practice that meets your system where it is and slowly opens the door to let more of you be visible.
Reaching out to people. Sharing your work. Telling them what you’re creating. This is one of the most direct forms of being seen and it terrifies most entrepreneurs more than anything else. It feels salesy, heavy, like you’re bothering people.
But there’s a way to do this that honors your fear while inviting your soul to express. A way that makes visibility feel like celebration instead of pushing.
This is the same practice that moved Phil Powis ❤️⚡️ from hiding to enjoying being seen.