Unmasking me...

Never let fear of failure or of making a fool of yourself hold you back from being who you really are. That's a line I heard from a movie recently and it got me thinking, about how we can actually hide ourselves so much so that we end up not even recognising ourselves. Yes I mean you yourself end up not knowing who you really are because you have hidden the real you under a mask. But why do we invent these masks when it is much easier to be yourself, or so it seems? Well the most plausible explanation is that it is not so easy being one's true self what with pressures from family, friends, colleagues not to mention life itself. It is therefore little wonder that most of us would pretend to be what we are not so we can fit in with the rest. Thing is as humans we were created with a sense of competition if I may call it that, that is we are all wired with a desire to excel and be the best, some more or less than others. Also society generally puts pressure on its members to conform to a certain standard, for example a man or woman in their 40s is expected to have accomplished much more than one in their 20s or 30s. You therefore find that when such standards are not met one feels like a failure and would in turn hide behind a mask to hide their low self-esteem. Some people have learnt to be super-efficient in trying to hide the pain of loss, instaed of mourning they throw themselves into their work. Most can agree that a lot of workaholics are underneath lonely and maybe suffering from a broken heart.
But why do we wear these masks for there are many different masks that people wear,some wear the mask of indifference pretending nothing touches you deeply because once you cared and got hurt. Some wear the mask of exuberance, they are always on top of the world only because they are afraid to show their emotions, admitting that they have feelings too. I believe we wear these masks so that we can be acceptable to those around us, because we think they won't accept us as we are. As I stated earlier society puts pressure on us to be superhuman so when we feel we are not performing up to par we put on a mask to hide. In short we wear masks so we can be loved, but how can I be sure anybody loves me if they don't know the real me. Food for thought brothers and sisters...