It’s ok you can admit it. Admit that at least at some point in your life you have worn a mask. No, not a physical mask like for a costume. But a mask to cover who you are.
Masks can look different for different people. A mask for one person might be one that attracts attention. One that is intentionally meant to draw people to see one distracting persona so they won’t see what is more deeply hidden.
Or your mask could be just the opposite. One that covers who you are so you can just disappear. It’s a trick some people can become quite good at and even do it without thinking.
It can just be something that we do for survival. Just to deal with certain things or certain people or certain situations just to get through it.
Which one are you? Or which one have you chosen most often?
I’m using the mask as a metaphor that can really just mean that you are pretending or covering something up. Covering up who you are.
Do you think much about who you are trying to be in front of certain people, in certain places at certain times, for certain reasons?
Is it possible you do this occasionally or all of the time without even realizing it?
I know it’s a lot to think about. I encourage you to take some time to think more about this.
It’s one thing to realize you wear a mask or become someone different but it’s a whole other thing to understand why you do it.
That might be the tougher thing to understand for sure.
As always friend, I’m not coming here from a place of complete mastery or complete understanding myself. This is just something I’m thinking through and encourage you to also.
Here is another question for you. How horrifying do you think it would be if people saw the true you? Who you really are in every circumstance, with all the people in your world?
How terrifying on a scale of 1-10 that will be for you will be personal to each one of you. I think that alone is reason to think about this.
Recently, I was in a conversation with some individuals who have known me for years and who I have spent quite a bit of time with. It would be fair to say they know me pretty well.
The idea turned to a specific perception they had of me. I wasn’t even aware I was giving off that specific impression. It wasn’t an intentional decision on my part.
It really flowed from other parts of my life and it was the result. To the world it was a mask I was wearing.
It was a fascinating conversation because I began to see what I was portraying to the world and I really began to think about what that meant. Was it a mask or was it truly who I am?
Since that conversation months ago I have intentionally shifted certain things I say or do in order to be more honest about who I am. Or maybe you could say to lower the mask.
It’s actually quite hard. But as with so many difficult things the effort is worth the end result.
Oh friend I will not claim this easy because it absolutely is not.
So friend, you know I am praying for you with this and so many other things. It’s usually the deeper and hidden things that require so much more from us. But also can provide a greater reward.
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Melodee Glassford 