Authentic Self-Expression & Confidence Coaching is for Women Ready to Stop Hiding and Be Fully Themselves.
It helps soulful, thoughtful women drop the mask, release people-pleasing, and feel wildly confident living, loving, and showing up as their true selves.
Coaching Authentic Self-Expression, what does that mean?
Do any of these sound like you?
- You often find yourself holding back, filtering your words, wondering
- “How do I say this without sounding weird, wrong, or too much?”
- You’ve spent so long adapting to what others expect that you sometimes wonder
- “Who even am I, really?”
- You crave deeper, real connections (friendships, conversations, a life where you’re fully seen for who you are) but the fear of being misunderstood holds you back.
- You second-guess yourself constantly:
- what you said, what you did, whether you came across okay.
- You secretly wonder if you’ve been living with the volume on your soul turned down.
And underneath it all, there’s this whisper…
“There has to be more than this” or “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life pretending”
That whisper is your truth
It’s the part of you that knows, even if it feels scary, that you were never meant to fit into someone else’s version of who you should be.
You were always meant to be… you.
- Fully.
- Freely.
- Unapologetically.
Hi, I’m Maria. As a life coach for authentic self-expression, I help thoughtful, sensitive, soulful women; who’ve spent years blending in, overthinking, and wondering how to belong; release the pressure to perform, drop the mask, and start living as the fullest, truest version of themselves. And as a lifelong creative, sensitive soul, and multi-passionate, I’ve always felt the tension between wanting to belong and needing to be true to myself.
I get it… because I’m her
For years, I shaped myself into whatever version felt safest, the agreeable one, the easy one, the quiet one.
I shrank parts of myself.
I muted my voice, my expression, my truth.
I lived with this constant hum of anxiety… “Am I being too much? Not enough? Am I getting this right?”
And for a long time, it worked. I kept the peace. I fit in.
But I also felt… small. Invisible. Exhausted. Useless even, because I knew I had potential but it was unseen, unused, unrealised.
Until one day, I realised: No amount of blending in would ever lead me to the life, the friendships, the joy I deeply craved.
So I did the work of coming home to myself, piece by piece.
Learning how to trust my own voice.
Learning how to show up as me, fully.
Learning that the right people, the ones who truly see and love you, only show up when you show up as yourself.
My work is for you if you’ve spent years blending in, overthinking, or wondering who you need to be to feel safe, loved, or accepted. You’re ready to stop contorting yourself for others, and start living as yourself.
Maria Duckhouse
That’s the work I support other women in doing.
Not to become louder or more performative.
But to feel so deeply rooted in who you are that you no longer need to shrink, filter, or question yourself.
→ To feel safe being seen.
→ To trust that your presence is enough.
→ To express yourself in conversation, in life, in love, without the weight of second-guessing.
If any part of you has been whispering
- “I don’t want to keep hiding.”
- “I wish I could just be myself, and know that’s enough.”
- “I want to feel safe being fully seen.”
Know that you’re not alone.
And this is possible.
My work is an invitation back to yourself.
To remember who you were before the world told you to be anything else.
To breathe easier. To take up space. To feel more freedom in your relationships, your conversations, your life.
You were never too much. You were never not enough. You were always meant to be you.
If this resonates, you’re warmly invited to explore how we can work together
How I got here
my authentic self-expression is about living truthfully, listening inward, and showing up in the world as my whole self.
But it took me a long time to get here.
When I lost my voice, I lost my spark.
There was a time when I felt deeply disconnected from my creative energy.
I overthought every idea, second-guessed every instinct.
I longed to express something real, but fear and perfectionism always seemed to win.
Even while helping others grow, I was quietly silencing my own voice.
But I’ve learned that authentic self-expression doesn’t need to be perfect.
It just needs to be true to you
My healing came when I started creating just for me.
No expectations. Not for approval. Not for an audience.
Just quiet moments with a brush, a journal, or a deep breath.
A way for me to reconnect with my deeper self, my emotions, and my inner knowing.
It wasn’t about doing it “right”; it was about returning to myself.
And from that place, everything changed.
I felt more grounded. More alive. More me.
My Creative Path to Authentic Self-Expression Coaching
| Year | Moment |
|---|---|
| 2015 | Left a conventional path to follow what felt true, even when it made no sense. |
| 2018 | Deepened into coaching and intuitive work to support other creatives. |
| 2023 | Started painting again after a long pause – quietly, just for me. |
| 2025 | Recommitted to creating from my soul, not just the strategy. Soulfully, Maria was born. |
What I’m Currently Exploring
Right now, I’m exploring:
- Painting as a form of emotional reflection
- Creative rituals that honour both flow and fear
- The link between intuition, creativity, and expression
- How to show up truthfully, even when it’s uncomfortable or The messy magic of showing up imperfectly but honestly
https://mariaduckhouse.com | Let’s connect on Instagram
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