We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others, that in the end, we become disguised to ourselves.
François de la Rochefoucauld
Some people like to ‘put on a public face’ whenever they are in other peoples’ company, simply to try to avoid others seeing how they are really feeling. However, by constantly presenting a false or altered version of ourselves to others, we can lose touch with our true identity. We may eventually become unable to recognise our own authentic self.
The continuous effort of maintaining a disguise for other people may lead us to self-deception, making it difficult for us to know who we are beneath our ‘public face’ performance.
When we always hide our true feelings, vulnerabilities, and opinions to fit in or to be perceived in a certain way, we become so practiced at presenting a false face that it becomes our default. This constant performance erodes our genuine self, leaving us disconnected from our own core beliefs and desires. The person we show to the world starts to replace the person we actually are.
We end up living in a state of internal conflict, where the self we present to others is not the self we know, and eventually, we may not even know which self is real. This disguise also prevents us from forming genuine, deep connections with others, as we are not truly revealing ourselves to them.
Is it therefore worth the effort and pain to continue disguising ourselves when we’re in public? Maybe we actually need to just let others see the real you! Maybe give it a try.
The Distinct Dot 