Mask Off

There’s something we all share, an item some of us never leave the house without. It’s something critical to our everyday interactions with people. Have you guessed what it is?

It’s a mask. But not the mask that you might think. I’m referring to the mask that we put on ourselves every day that hides how we are really feeling and who we really are. I was having a conversation with two of my girl friends about how some people aren’t truthful with their friends about what they are going through or about the inner turmoil they feel constantly. In these friendships, the conversations are overwhelmingly surface level. No depth, no connection.

To extent, if we’re being honest, all of us partake in this mask wearing activity.

People see you everyday and think that you may be the warmest, happiest person they know. But, inside of you is a cold, dark tundra. We don’t want to show people that. No way. We think, “If I show them the real, they’ll leave”. So we put on the mask, walking undercover throughout the crowd to conceal our identities.

Each of our masks are different. Some of us have so many that we have one for each day of the week and for every occasion.

Nonetheless, the mask that you’ve been wearing for years is really just a lie. It’s a falsity that you’ve been carrying around with us for however long, to the point that you never take it off. However, this causes us to fall deeper into the lie. And, because you're walking through life pretending, people never know who you truly are.

I challenge you to cut the theatrics. Life will go on if you show your insecurities. It’s okay to share your troubles with your friends. You don’t have to be a fake version of you. I’m working on that myself. I want to be able interact with people as myself, not a fake portrait of me.

Forget wearing the mask, remember to be you.