How do we lose ourselves? Usually, not all at once.

In this episode of The Story of Us, Jeff Ellison sits down with brand strategist and mindfulness coach Cassidy Smith for a fascinating conversation about identity, authenticity, mindfulness, neuroscience, and the quiet ways we drift away from who we really are.

Cassidy describes that process as an accumulation of “small moments of quiet self-betrayal.”

We barely notice the drift—until one day we look in the mirror and wonder:

Where did I go?

Cassidy knows that experience personally. After finding herself in a toxic relationship and barely recognizing the woman looking back at her, mindfulness became part of the path that helped her begin finding herself again.

Her professional work also gave h ...