We all wear masks and not just on October 31st.  There is the mask we wear for the world normally exposing only a small part of ourselves, and generally just the part we want you to see.  Then there is the mask we wear with those that we are closely connected like friends and family showing them more of our true self but not all of it.  What about the you you’ve always been?   What mask do you wear? What do you gain by wearing this mask? What would happen if you ditched the mask?

Sometimes you wear a mask for so long, you forget who you are beneath it. This happened to me toward the end of my marriage, for almost 20 years I had been wearing the mask of the woman with the perfect life – great career, great marriage – until it all came crumbling down.  Even in the midst of it, I tried wearing the mask until one day a colleague gave me permission to ditch the mask.  She saw the real me, the pain and the suffering, and she withheld any judgement.  It was an invitation to be authentic and embrace all that I was in that moment.  I ditched the mask and found my way back to myself.

These masks can isolate us from others. When you can share a moment of vulnerability and take off the mask, stop protecting yourself with it, you can show up as someone choosing to be in connection with ourselves and others.

You are not your thoughts or feelings.  You are not what you have or what you do. You are not who you love or loves you. Behind the mask, you are you. You don’t have to be anybody’s anything, you are yourself.  Embrace the strength and magic that is uniquely you and put that in service of your goals.

Ditch the mask and strive to be good at being you.