Are You Always Pretending to be Someone Else?

by | Dec 17, 2019 | Pro

If you think you are the same person all the time, you are incorrect. If you do not acknowledge that you have at least one other persona, you will not understand how to blend these images together.

How many personas do you have? Do you have one for work, one for your family, yet another for friends, and then another for the parents of your kids?

Who are you and who are you pretending to be?

This persona, this mask that you wear may be beneficial or not. If you have a work persona that is different from your home mask, what is it and how does it help you with your peers and your boss? Or do you have a separate persona you wear when you are in direct contact with your boss?

This may sound frivolous, however, we all have different personas. And yes, it can be confusing to others if they catch on. It can also be confusing to you, the one who holds the power over these masks.

It must be exhausting to carry all these personas with you day after day. What if you could be only YOU each and every day?

This act of masking is what many do in order to feel safe amongst different situations, mostly social.

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” — Kurt Vonnegut

We’ve all seen it, the pretenders. They certainly run rampant on Social Media. You see people wearing these masks and then you speak to them, if you are lucky, and discover they are illusions of themselves. They are not real, they are following in others’ paths, allowing us to think or imagine that they’re very, very successful or equally as powerful. The truth then appears at a break in their persona. A word, a gesture, appears and you go ‘Whoa! What was that?’ – not what you expected. And I do say the word expected because people who attempt to force their personas or masks onto you for their own benefit, know that this is the persona you expect to see. And they gave exactly that to you.

Bosses and leaders carry many personas. If only they could afford to be more authentic, we would appreciate their skills more. However, in many cases, we EXPECT them to have many masks and personas. It is expected in the society we have created. And when the supposed truth about who they really, truly are comes out, we are shocked, surprised and yet, we are part of the game in supporting their personas.

Any of us can be kind, strong, sad, and cranky without a persona. We can be genuine human beings and stop wearing any personas or masks to enjoy our lives.

The fewer masks we wear, the closer we are to having more peace in our lives.

Wouldn’t you like to live a life of truth and openness? Contact me here for some advice.

Joanne

Joanne Victoria
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