Masks and Us

Everyone wears a mask, but sometimes we put on a mask too much that we forgot who we really are...I guess we all wear masks of our own to face the world, in our own way, at our own pace...We wear masks to shield ourselves from things which could hurt us or in an attempt to protect people around us...Sometimes we're too engrossed in this facade that we fail to see that we are losing ourselves in the process...We wear those masks trying to fit into moulds expected of us...The expectations and the standards which society sets for us to 'fit in' led us to the necessity of wearing masks...which brings us to the fact that those who does not conform, are considered the outcasts, the black sheeps...

Everyone keeps telling us to be ourselves, but that is definitely easier said than done. How many of us are really being ourselves? Even as a child, we are constantly told (though not always verbally) to be someone or something that is considered "good". I mean, define "good". Parents and teachers taught children to aim for jobs like doctors, accountants, engineers and so on...and most of us grew up with the idea planted in our head, so how real are our childhood ambitions? Our current ambitions? Is it based on what we have been subconsciously trying to achieve based on what that has been expected of us? We play our own roles in our world. But we are so consumed in the attempt to play it right, that we forgot what we really needed and wanted at times. We become so accustomed to our roles, we don't even realised it anymore. It's basically a never-ending circle. We stereotype others, as they do us. When we do, we actually limit ourselves to what we can actually achieve. Labelling stumped our ability to grow (emotionally and in other sense). It's hard enough to slowly lose our masks, especially when everyone is trying to fit in (regardless of age), we don't have to make it harder for others to find themselves, and us, ourselves too! Looking at the good side of others, would make our life a richer experience! :)))


In fact, the media and internet worsen this problem. It's like we are constantly bombarded with ideals of how we should act, how we should talk, how we should feel when that's the opposite of what we are really feeling. When you are faced with the constant repetitions of those views and such, you started thinking that they ARE what you feel and want too! It's like a reverse physcology or sumthink...Something like if you keep thinking you are a loser, then that's what you become...Everything started with an idea...a belief...As a result of all those pressure, what else can we do but hide under layers and layers of masks?

The masks we wear differ according to our own fears and we wears them at some point or other, some more often than others. We feel frustrated at times acting the way we had to, when deep inside, we felt anger or disappointments, but we show a mask to cover it up at times, be it a polite smile, a look of indifference...all this could be due to manners ingrained in us since young, or simply because, we couldn't afford to show it (I don't have to explain this do I?). At times, we wanted to share, but fear of rejection and ridicule usually is enough to keep us quiet..hence, another layer of mask to cover up our emotions. If labelling and stereotyping stops, maybe all the masks we all have to wear at times can stop too!

Sometimes, we can go through life with masks of "I am fine" to cover up all the hurt and pain, never finding the answers; of the doubts and hopelessness with "I can take control" masks, but ended up depressed. When we go on about life as if everything's fine and wonders whether there are more to life than just work and getting off work, whether there are securities in just having money saved up in the banks, whether if these are the only thing that we can achieve? These masks have to be discarded.


It isn't all bad, the masks I mean. They can be beneficial at times, for a short while...Like when you could put on a mask and literally 'mask' your emotions from getting too out of hand and hurting those around you with those sudden hurtful outbursts...But too much layers and protection behind these masks, you'll create a false facades, causing chasms between what used to be a great friendship, any relationship.

With so much pressures around, how many masks do you have on? 1? 2? or are there too many until there are no way to identify the numbers? Or we are so accustomed to them that we falsely thought the masks we are wearing ARE who we really are? :|

“My recipe for life is not being afraid of myself, afraid of what I think or of my opinions.” – Eartha Kitt

This brings me to a song which I used to love...Reflections, by Christina Aguilera, probably caused of a part of the songs which always seem to feel so true..:D

Look at me
You may think you see
Who I really am
But you'll never know me
Every day
It's as if I play a part
Now I see
If I wear a mask
I can fool the world
But I cannot fool my heart

Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?

I am now
In a world where I
Have to hide my heart
And what I believe in
But somehow
I will show the world
What's inside my heart
And be loved for who I am

Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
Why is my reflection
Someone I don't know?
Must I pretend that I'm
Someone else for all time?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?

There's a heart that must be
Free to fly
That burns with a need to know
The reason why

Why must we all conceal
What we think, how we feel?
Must there be a secret me
I'm forced to hide?
I won't pretend that I'm
Someone else for all time
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?