Leaving the Fool’s Paradise: A Call to Honest Living
Sunday 13th July 2025
Hi everyone,
Ah, Fool’s Paradise Day. Sunday, 13th July 2025. It’s one of those obscure little observances that sounds like a joke — a day to celebrate self-deception, to revel in denial, to toast to our most comforting delusions. But as a life coach, relationship coach and someone who has walked with people through their rawest reckonings, I think there’s something heartbreakingly real about it. And, perhaps, something useful.
Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: we’ve all lived in a fool’s paradise at some point. We’ve all clung to a version of reality that felt safer than the truth. In love, it might be believing that someone will change — despite all evidence to the contrary. It might be staying in a situationship, calling it ‘complicated’ when it’s really just non-committal and lonely. After a breakup, it’s pretending you're over it when you're still sleeping with the hoodie they left behind. We become experts at telling ourselves soothing stories. “They didn’t mean it.” “This is normal.” “I’m fine.”
But there comes a point where the paradise cracks. A friend says something that lands a little too close. You catch your own reflection in a moment of emotional honesty. The silence gets heavy, and you realise — this isn’t real peace. It’s avoidance. It’s a beautiful lie that has overstayed its welcome.
And so, today, I want to offer you a challenge.
Take ten minutes — that’s all — and write down your current fool’s paradise. Be brutally honest with yourself. Where are you pretending? Where are you hoping something will fix itself if you just wait long enough? What illusion are you living in because it’s easier than starting again?
Is it the belief that your partner will suddenly understand your needs without you ever expressing them? Is it that you’re “just taking time” when really, you’re paralysed by fear? Is it that they were “the one,” even though they never truly saw you? Name it. Put it in black and white. Illusions don’t survive well in daylight.
Once you’ve written it down, read it back. Let it sting a little. And then, ask yourself: what’s one small act I could take this week that moves me out of fantasy, and into truth?
Maybe it’s booking that coaching call you’ve been putting off. Maybe it’s sending the message that ends the confusion. Maybe it’s finally telling the truth to a friend about what’s really going on. Small acts, but radical in their honesty.
There’s no shame in having lived in a fool’s paradise. It was a shelter. It got you through. But if you’re reading this, it might be time to leave. And you don’t have to do it alone.
Stay positive,
Your life coach,
Vincent
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