Day 37: Our Masks
'Tis the season for all things make believe and pretend. Tonight is the night where people don their best costumes and pretend to be a character which they are not. The masks come out and people take on a false identity. However, is the night of Halloween really all that different from every day of the year?
A theme that is so commonly explored is the thought that we walk through life wearing masks. We slip them on with ease and can often tailor them to fit different situations. How many masks have you worn? How many have you cast off only to replace it with another? As we go about our holiday and enjoy the fun of pretending to be something we are not, remember that this is unfortunately how we often parade around life.
Wearing personal masks is nowhere near as fun as donning a superhero or a giant version of our favorite food. It is far more draining and exhausting. Perhaps that is why Halloween is so appealing to us, putting on a mask becomes fun and exciting. Unlike putting on a mask to cover up vulnerability because the world deems such a thing as socially unacceptable.
Covering up who we are with mask is a daily reminder to our subconscious that we are not worthy. The world has put on such a judgmental filter that it drives people to believing they cannot be themselves to be accepted. The world leads us to believe that there is a mask we must put on in order to be successful and likable. Our unique characteristics, the things that make us us, and all our vulnerable moments have no place in this costume we slip on.
What a horrible and stifling belief to live under. These masks that we put on block out who we really are and cause us a lot of emotional strain. Yet day after day, we feel this need to dress up as someone else in order to fit in with the world. What a waste.
You are a beautiful and unique creation. The person living and suffering under all those masks is incredible. Nothing the world says about who you have to be in order to be liked, respected, successful, etc. holds any weight against the magic of being who you are. Who you are truly meant to be. The person we hide under the masks has been neglected for far too long.
In a world of costumes, masks, clowns, and lies dare to be yourself. Take off your mask, allow yourself the freedom to be who you are, not the version of yourself the world wants you to be. Dress down and reveal the unique, beautiful soul waiting underneath it all. Remove the masks, burn them all and step into a new day.
No more dark nights of pretending and struggling to keep your mask in place. Let it slip, let the costume come off and see your beautiful soul blossom with that freedom.
Happy Halloween!
Until Next Time,
Lillian Merritt
