When your mom asked you to behave, you may have felt that, that’s what she actually meant.
“Where is your mask?”

And afterwards followed your teacher and all the other people in your life.

We all have a mask and we have it nearby at all times.

Some of us are not even aware of the mask we wear anymore. It is part of us.

This mask was supposed to protect us from outside harm while also making us look like the ones next to us.

The problem is that while we have the mask on, it is the reflection of the mask that we also see in the reactions of others.

When others get to see only my good side, I will not find out what others think about my problems or what solutions they’ve found to those same problems, or even if they find those to be problems at all.

If others get to see only my poker face they, of course will have trouble reading me, so they won’t know when I bluff, but they will also go to extreme lengths to get a response from me.
So I’ll be pushed to my limits by the others more and more often in order to crack my mask.
This will in turn make me hurt on the inside and hide my feelings even from the ones who love me and care for me.
They will either give up on me or at least not be able to understand what I need or where I’m coming from.
Which in turn will make me feel misunderstood and alone, which for a human being is just as bad as being shot to the moon or buried underground forever.
So what can you do?

Well that is the stuff that next episodes are made from.

Leave your thoughts in the comments or, if your story is too personal, write me a few lines and we’ll try to incorporate answers that may help ease your pain in our next pieces of content.