The Mask

No, I'm not referring to the mask that Jim Carrey wore in the movie named "The Mask". I'm referring to a much more serious thought over here.

Time and time again, over and over again, I have seen people do this. As a person even I have done it and had been doing it. Most of the times i've done it to get rid of certain things/situations. Some times I have done it to a avoid certain people too. I am talking about the mask a person wears to not let others know what the person is all about. No matter who we are with, we always wear a mask. And we have been wearing it for such a long time that we have begin to forget who we really are. Not just me. It's the same with everyone around us. Sometimes I do not understand as to why we tend not to be who we really are.

Let me elaborate this even further. A guy and a girl, I will try to explain the phenomenon of wearing mask from both the views.

When a girl likes a guy or is in love with a guy, she would do so after having analyzed every possible way of failure of the relationship and only when she feels confident that the relation is not goig to fail, or say at the least when she is completely certain, she moves on to the next step. Until this point, she is wearing a mask. With that, her real identity is not visible to all, for she is afraid that someone might take an advantage of her. She resents her emotions, tries to strengthen herself, and at times becomes cold to even react.

Lets look how a guy thinks.
When a guy likes/loves a girl, all that goes on in his mind is how he can convince the girl that he is the one for her. In an event to pursue This he shuns his identity, wears a mask that resembles on how she wants him to be. Over a period of time, he has continues to be the same, and the mask he wore becomes his current identity. At this moment, no matter how much he tries to take it off, he now knows that he cannot forsake the mask.

Another instance, I will tell this from a guy's perspective only.
I would not agree if someone says that all the guys are unemotional. I would also disagree if you say that some guys are unemotional. All I say is all the guys are emotional. Just like any other girl. Afterall, it is the emotional quotient of a person that determines how well they can handle emotional levels in relation, be it a girl or be it a boy. Comin back to what I was saying, a guy also feels threatened as much as a girl does when his emotions are exposed. As a result, almost all put a mask of a hard hearted guy who could tolerate anythng. We all wear masks to protect ourselves. If it was for an instance or two, it is totally understandable as well acceptable. Unfortunately, these days, we end up wearing masks all the time. So much so that we don't know whom we are actually talkin to.

When I began thinking about this, I found that the feeling of being insecure is what leads us to wear a mask. I think the best way to possibly explain what I think, i will use my life. For quite a long time, I was under the impression that I must let anyone know what I as a person was. Yes, I always said what I wanted to, never thought twice, but at the sametime expressed any emotions I was going through. I never realized the mask concept until I began working. The insecurities were so much hovering at the workplace that I used to feel that I am working in the worldmofni security. It is only when I interacted with various people at work and understood the problems they face in their respective daily lives did I understand the actual importance of the mask in lives. Until then I had no idea what why how where and when the mask would be needed.

I would be a liar if I were to say I never wore a mask to hide my insecurities to protect myself from various possible attacks. But some over period of time, while I as using this mask, I began losing my actual identity. I now had a different persona of myself and everyte I looked at the mirror I knew I was not looking at myself. It is when I could see no more of th new me did I realize one thing..

It is not how well we are when we wear a mask to get what we want or be, but it is how well we can be without wearing the mask.