The Mask and the Void

What remains of a face masked too long?

The Mask
Entrepreneurship. Advising. Strategies. Forecasts.
Three decades: Structure. Tables. Numbers. Targets.
Words of growth, market share, reach.
Never of people.
People were clicks. Leads. Budgets.
Buyer Personas. Convenient fictions.
The human as mask.
Persona.
The Face
Behind it, the face erased.
Personas lined up like hens.
Some cut out, others kept.
We called it strategy.
I played along.
Cheered numbers.
Believed lies.
Forgot the mask was a mask.
The Void
Then emptiness.
Not silence. Not rest.
A vacuum that swallowed the face.
If only the mask speaks, who remains?
The Break
I stumbled. Fell.
Silence. A room. A breath. A heartbeat.
A voice. Mine.
Not freedom. Not clarity.
First shame. Fear. Nakedness.
The New
No plan. No label.
Only small steps.
A morning without a role.
A breath without a mask.
A beginning.
What remains of a face masked too long?
Perhaps only the question itself.
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